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Jenkins Tours Missouri River Flood Zone with Army Corps of Engineers

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins toured the Missouri River flood zone with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  The tour, led by Colonel Anthony J. Hofmann, Commander of Kansas City District of the USACE, was conducted on the river via watercraft, starting in St. Joseph, Missouri and ending in Atchison, Kansas. During the tour Congresswoman Jenkins and the USACE representatives saw ongoing levee, dike revetment and river structure repairs, and, once docked in Atchison, held a public meeting at the Lewis and Clark Pavilion to update residents on the status of flood rehabilitation efforts within the lower Missouri River Basin.

Congresswoman Jenkins released the following statement after the tour:

“Two of the top priorities of the Federal Government are maintaining a strong and durable infrastructure and protecting American citizens.  In order to achieve both of these goals, it is imperative that the replacement and repair of the crumbling flood management infrastructure along the Missouri River and an update of the Army Corps of Engineers’ water management strategies remain a top priorities of the Congress.”

“The folks along the Missouri River have suffered through historic floods that threatened their homes, their families, their businesses, and their livelihoods for the last several years.  While heavy rain, historic snowmelt have undoubtedly been at work, much of the flooding this year, and in years past, can be attributed to the outdated water management strategies by the Army Corps of Engineers and the older or worn down levees and flood mitigation infrastructure.  These are two factors that we can, and must, improve if we wish to protect our communities from preventable disasters.  I have introduced commonsense legislation that requires the Army Corps of Engineers to take into account all precipitation data from last year’s record levels in the Missouri River basin when making future river management decisions, which will help to reduce the risk of future flood events.  Additionally, I was pleased to see improvement in the flood infrastructure along the river today, but we must continue these efforts.  It is essential that Congress acts to improve both infrastructure and planning tools in order to protect our communities from future preventable floods.”

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