Carver seeks ways to shore up its aging levees

It is with rising interest that Carver Mayor Jim Weygand and other city officials are watching the death and destruction that floodwaters are visiting upon Iowa and surrounding states this month.

Not only has the Minnesota River that flows by Carver reached flood stage, but the levees keeping the river from ravaging the historic downtown are considered substandard and in need of $10 million to $12 million in repairs.

"I always worry," said Weygand, who is trying to get federal aid to fix the levees built around 1968 after major floods damaged the downtown.

The city of 2,800 doesn't have the money to tackle the job on its own. In fact, Weygand said the cost of repairing the levees probably would total more than the value of the 100 downtown buildings in the flood plain.

The levees, totaling two-thirds of a mile in length, were built by Carver without federal assistance. They stand as high as 39 feet high in some places -- theoretically high enough to handle a 100-year flood.

But the levees have never been certified as safe by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which worries city, county and state officials. And while the levees have kept Carver relatively safe, that blessing also is something of a curse because few residents see flooding as an imminent threat, Weygand said.

"My biggest concern is that people are complacent," the mayor said. "They think there's never going to be a flood.

"Look at what's happening in Iowa. There are towns there under water that thought that they were safe from a 500-year flood. I'm trying to wake people up to that."

Even before the Iowa flooding, officials in Carver and Carver County were beating the drum, trying to bring some attention to the problem.

Earlier this spring, when the Minnesota River also was nearing flood stage, the Carver County Board passed a resolution asking the federal government for aid to fix the city's levees before it is too late.

"We can't predict when there is going to be a 50-year, 100-year, or even a 500-year flood," said Gayle Degler, the Carver County Board member who sponsored the resolution in support of Carver.

"It sounds like something that really needs assistance," said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who is working with U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to obtain funding for the project. "The broken levees along the Mississippi are a clear reminder that we need to be vigilant."

Another problem posed by the levees is that their deteriorating condition is limiting the growth of Carver's downtown. The buildings -- comprising a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- are in the flood plain.

Federal regulations limit how much remodeling can be done to a building in a flood plain, Weygand said. Also, downtown businesses and homeowners pay higher premiums to carry flood insurance.

"The question is, would the downtown be more viable if it was not in the flood plain?" said City Administrator Jim Elmquist. "Absolutely."

As a result, Carver is looking for an immediate $100,000 to $200,000 from the federal government so the Army Corps of Engineers can study the levee network to see if can be certified as safe, Weygand said.

If the corps certifies the levees as safe, that will reduce insurance costs and lift the remodeling restrictions.

"They can't really improve their downtown until they get that levee certified," Degler said. "Carver is special because of its downtown. I don't see it revitalizing or people putting in a lot of new money into it until that happens."

But Weygand said he is not optimistic that the initial study will prove the levees are safe. He said preliminary talks with the corps show that the levees need the $10 million to $12 million to make them safer.

Then the problem will be how to come up with the cash.

"The city does not have the wherewithal to fund this by itself," Elmquist said. "We are just going to keep asking until we get some help."

The city and business leaders have spent more than a year contacting members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation for help. This spring Coleman, joined by Klobuchar, responded by requesting $100,000 for the initial corps study.

"When floodwaters rise, we need to be prepared to fight back," Coleman said in a statement. "That means studying and strengthening our state's flood control infrastructure, including the Carver levee."

The battle for funding is another reason Carver officials are paying such close attention to the flooding along the Mississippi River. They fear that whatever federal aid is available will probably be earmarked for Iowa and other affected states before Carver.

"It's going to take a lot of money," Degler said. "Unfortunately, there's only so much money to go around."

In some ways, Carver is facing the same problem as New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina: Much of the city is in a flood plain protected by a questionable levee system.

And like post-Katrina New Orleans, the city of Carver might face some tough decisions about whether downtown should be rebuilt in the same spot if a flood does hit.

Weygand said some have suggested moving downtown and the city's offices to higher ground before a flood occurs.

"I don't think I could get that passed," said Weygand. "The downtown is historic. It's considered the soul of the city."

Heron Marquez Estrada • 612-673-4280