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T he Midwest Flood of 1993 demonstrated the poor condition of the St. Louis region’s levee system as levees failed causing billions of dollars in damage and 50 deaths. Twelve years later Hurricane Katrina caused more than fifty levee breaches, resulting in catastrophic flooding damage over large portions of southern Mississippi and Louisiana. This has focused attention on the flood protection systems across the U.S.
Congressman Jerry Costello convened an Illinois Levee Summit in August of 2007 onboard the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Motor Vessel Mississippi to provide an overview of the levee systems in the St. Louis region and described levee deficiencies and flood risks for five levees systems in the Illinois area of the region. Congress has mandated a revision of all flood risk maps for the base level “100-year flood”. Currently, the five affected levee systems along the Mississippi River in the St. Louis region will not meet the minimum criteria for flood protection.
According to reports and studies done by the Corps of Engineers, all the levees in question have significant underseepage problems that significantly increase the risk of a major flood. This has led to the decertification of the regional levee system.
Elected officials in St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties in Illinois requested that East-West Gateway provide an accurate, up-to-date status report that would define the problem and suggest ways to correct the levee deficiencies, taking a regional approach.
 East-West Gateway investigated the issue and presented a report, Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention Initiative: Status Report and Projected Timeline, in November 2007 which indicates what repairs must be made to the levees so they can be certified by the Corps of Engineers to protect from a 100-year flood. This report contains information about the remapping process and the role of national flood insurance, projected costs, funding availability and estimated times for completion, information about each of the levee districts and recommends actions needed to restore the flood control system in southwestern Illinois.
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