(Kansas City, MO) – With record-breaking rainfall this year, KC Water is watching the Missouri River for potential flooding. Currently the river is receding and there is no threat of water breaching the levee walls. As a precaution, KC Water Preventative Maintenance Crews within the Stormwater Division are making sure stoplogs near the levee are able to withstand high water should flooding occur.
Stoplogs are wooden logs that block openings along the levee wall. Crews recently ran a test on patching the stoplogs with plastic in the Central Industrial District near Berkley Riverfront Park. KC Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintain the levees that protect this area.
“We are disassembling logs, which also allows us to inspect them and make sure they are structurally sound, “said Jorge Flores, KC Water Utility Supervisor. “We have to keep them water tight. We wrap plastic through them so the water will not go through the seams of each individual log.”
The logs, weighing close to 250 pounds each, are removed one by one with a lift and wrapped tightly in plastic. Each log is carefully placed back in its spot. Crews will add sandbags to the bottom of the wall for extra protection.
The last time the river crested the levee wall was in 1993 when water reached 48.9 feet.
For more information contact Heather Frierson, KC Water Media Relations Coordinator, at heather.frierson@kcmo.org 816-513-0280, cell 816-674-0211.
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KC Water maintains and operates water treatment and distribution systems, stormwater management systems, and wastewater collection and treatment systems for residential and business customers in Kansas City and for wholesale customers in the Kansas City area. KC Water is primarily funded by fees charged to customers based on their use or impacts on the three utility systems.
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