Congressman Loebsack testifies in D.C. to position Cedar Rapids for flood protection funds

Congressman Dave Loebsack took a step Wednesday to position Cedar Rapids for funding in 2010 to build a flood-protection system for the city.

Loebsack, D-Mount Vernon, was among a group of representatives who testified to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Wednesday afternoon to bring attention to projects they want to see funded in a 2010 Water Resources Development Act. The act provides funding for the Corps of Engineers to conduct studies and to construct projects.

In his testimony viewed online, Loebsack told the Congressional panel that the city of Cedar Rapids “suffered arguably the most damage of any city in the Midwest” during flooding in 2008.

Loebsack detailed the flood damage in Cedar Rapids, and noted that an Army Corps of Engineers flood-protection study was already in the works and 45 percent complete. He called the $7.5-million study the “largest urban flood risk management study ever undertaken by the Corps' Rock Island District.” He said the Corps would complete the study by the end of 2010 and would do so in a little over a year when such studies typically take three to five years.

Loebsack said the speed and “critical nature” of the study made the case for the subcommittee to include funding for the Cedar Rapids project in a new Water Resources Development Act bill.

The Corps' study of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids is following on the heels of the city of Cedar Rapids' own four-month effort a year ago to devise a preferred flood-protection plan for the city. The Corps participated with city staff and consultants in the development of the preferred plan, though what the Corps' own study recommends won't be known until the first part of 2010 when it issues a draft report.

The city's preferred plan envisions a system of levees and removable flood walls with a cost that has been put at up to $1 billion.

Several members of Congress took a turn along with Loebsack to make a case for a water project in his or her district. The testimony came from those representing districts in Louisiana, Florida, New York, California, Illinois and elsewhere.

One congressman noted that Congress passed a Water Resources Development Act in 2007 over a veto from President George Bush. He noted, too, that many of the projects in that legislation had yet to receive Congressional funding.