U.S. Army Capt. Dan Strasser, representing the Army Corps of Engineers, receives the check from Prairie du Rocher Levee District President Steven Gonzalez and Prairie du Rocher Village President Raymond Cole. The money will be used to complete a survey of the levee that will hopefully lead to its certification. (Alan Dooley photo)

Federal, regional and local officials gathered Wednesday in Prairie du Rocher to discuss issues related to the levee protecting the village and the process underway to have it accredited.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Prairie du Rocher Drainage and Levee District joined with Prairie du Rocher Village Board members for the meeting held at the American Legion hall.

A high point of this meeting occurred when a check for $62,000 to fund a critical element of the levee’s future was delivered.

Roger Denick of FEMA presented a PowerPoint summary of a draft report laying out results of past work and meetings, as well as FEMA’s intent on the road ahead.

The issue is continued accreditation of the approximately 16.4-mile levee that surrounds Prairie du Rocher residences and businesses, protecting them from Mississippi River flooding.

Accreditation is critical to the economic future of the village as it approaches its 300th anniversary in 2022. Losing it would greatly increase the cost of National Flood Insurance Program coverage, which is required by law for federally ensured mortgages and which provides the only type of flood insurance regularly available.

Before FEMA can accredit a levee as being effective in reducing flood risks and making flood insurance available at a preferred rate, the levee must be evaluated by a qualified engineer who can certify it meets required criteria.  This can be a civilian civil engineer or comparable federal agency, such as the Corps of Engineers.

This evaluation measures the levee’s ability to withstand a so-called 100-year event — or one that can statistically be expected to occur with a 1 percent chance in any given year.

During the Flood of 1993, Prairie du Rocher’s levee was viewed as a 50-year levee. To be accredited and for property owners to be eligible for preferred flood insurance rates, it had to be improved to a 100-year level.  This involved moderately raising parts of the levee and improving seepage control with the ability to handle accumulated water.

This was achieved at considerable expense, and in 2008, the levee received what was termed “provisional accreditation.”

This was a temporary status, and in October 2012, FEMA informed the village of its plan to deaccredit the levee unless certain qualifications could be met. If the levee could not be certified and lost accreditation, the region it was built to protect would be deemed a “natural valley” and flood insurance rates would increase drastically.

Work to evaluate and certify the levee was begun by a civilian engineering firm, but did not result in certification. As the process marched forward, FEMA set a deadline for completing the evaluation and certification of the levee: March 2017.

Village and levee officials believed they had a longer time frame to comply, and secured an agreement for the Corps of Engineers to evaluate the levee.  To that end, they deposited two payments of $41,000 each with the Corps. But under regulations, the Corps could not start work until it was paid for in advance, and that required some $65,000 more.

Including some evaluation work accomplished locally by volunteers, that figure fell slightly to $62,000 — still a great deal of money for an area with a small population.

Over recent weeks, a combination of fundraising efforts and requests to businesses and other groups was launched and managed to build up $26,000 in the Community Foundation of Randolph County, leaving $36,000 to find.

Randolph County stepped up and promised to co-sign a bank loan for the remaining amount, and that loan was secured in recent days from Buena Vista Bank in Prairie du Rocher.

In the midst of Wednesday’s often contentious meeting, Prairie du Rocher Village President Ray Cole and levee district president Steve Gonzalez walked over to U.S. Army Captain Dan Strasser and presented him a check for the total amount required to start the Corps review of the levee — $62,000.

Cole and Gonzalez were critical of some of FEMA’s actions in producing its draft Levee Analysis and Mapping Plan report. They said communication had been difficult and they felt some of Prairie du Rocher’s inputs had not reached FEMA officials.

Gonzalez pointed out that the cover of this report – a picture of a closed flood gate with sand bags – was not representative of the village.

FEMA’s Ken Hinterlong said the March 2017 date was not a hard and fast deadline.  He said that is the date FEMA has been set to get the engineer’s report.

If the levee cannot be certified, remapping must begin. And even if the certification comes after that date, the process can be halted. It just needs to begin by then. Denick said FEMA does not want to carry out remapping if the community and Corps are on a path to success.

One way or another, the process must continue, as the provisional accreditation status has to come to an end. The process will either result in removing provisional status and replacing it with full accreditation or loss of accreditation and its consequences.

Prairie du Rocher Chamber of Commerce President Amy Barbeau emphasized that achieving the $62,000 payment to the Corps does not mean that the funding effort is ended.

“The evaluation will be honest. And we expect it to tell us that work remains ahead to first gain engineer’s certification and then FEMA accreditation,” she said. “We have already started the process to request grants from the Delta Regional Authority and rural development sources to fund any repairs identified to ensure we have a solid, dependable 100-year levee to reduce the risk posed by the river. Those grants are not guaranteed, but these agencies have been supportive in the past and we feel we have a good relationship with them.  So we are still very eager to continue to receive more donations and help.  And beyond the work ahead, we have to repay the $36,000 we were loaned as well.”

Dan Shulman of FEMA summarized FEMA’s mission in this effort.

“We want to ensure that people have an accurate assessment of the risks of living and working in the environment here.  Even if the levee is accredited, there are still risks posed by the Mississippi River, and indeed by rainfall in many non-flood plain areas.  We want people to understand that and take these risks into account in the decisions they make,” he said. “Our maps must show the best information available to accomplish that.”

Hinterlong agreed to sit down with the village and go over elements of the draft report.

“We want to get this right.  We are here to communicate,” he said.

As citizens and media departed, FEMA and Prairie du Rocher representatives were bending to the task together at the same table.

Uncertainty still lies ahead for this historic small community. But it was encouraging to see people involved, sitting together and communicating to clarify issues.

If past performance is indicative of future success, this project has strong support and is heading in the right direction.