Oregon lawmakers push for flood protection feasibility study for Portland
Published by KATU News on April 30t
WASHINGTON – Oregon lawmakers are urging federal officials in Washington D.C. to support a flood protection feasibility study.
Oregon lawmakers, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, and Rep. Kurt Schrader, said their request comes as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raised concerns about the prospects for a Portland flood.
“The Corps has recognized a substantial increase in the system’s risk profile and potential consequences from a major flood event making further investigation of the existing system an urgent need,” they wrote in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Assistant Army Secretary R.D. James.
They asked that the flood protection study be included in the Army Corps’ work plan for the 2018 fiscal year.
In their letter, they say the area is now protected by the Corps-designed and built 27-mile levee system was the site of the 1948 catastrophic levee breach that killed 15 people and permanently displaced the entire Vanport community.
They say the levees are showing signs of significant structural vulnerabilities during recent high-water events.
