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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dikes Unlikely To Be Built Higher Federal Money Available Only For Repairs

Federal money will be available to repair, but probably not improve, North Idaho’s flood-damaged dikes.

That’s the word from the office of Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, R-Idaho, who helped push a budget amendment through Congress last spring setting aside $18 million to fix leaky levees.

The news came as a blow to local disaster officials, who contend fixing the dikes without building them higher merely will postpone the inevitable.

“If anyone can assure me the (Coeur d’Alene) river won’t come over the top, I’ll listen,” said Bill Schwartz, director of Kootenai County disaster services. “But they can’t assure me it won’t any more than I can assure them it will.”

Earlier this week, Schwartz had complained that the slow processing of requests for federal grant money might leave residents along the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene rivers with broken dikes during winter flood season.

Following news coverage Wednesday of the delays, the federal Economic Development Administration promised it would begin reviewing the requests today.

But Schwartz and others leading flood-recovery efforts said they were surprised to learn Wednesday that the entire $18 million in Kempthorne’s amendment isn’t earmarked for repairs in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana.

Most of the money will go to fix broken levees in other flood-ravaged regions, including Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The Northwest will get less than half - about $7.5 million.

That’s not enough to cover even the estimated $10 million it would cost to raise dikes above the 100-year flood plain in St. Maries and Cataldo, Idaho, as proposed.

But Kempthorne spokesman Mark Snider said local officials are “asking for a Cadillac when all they need is a Chevy.”

Last winter’s flooding didn’t cause water to overflow the dikes. Rather, it punched holes in them because they were weak. That problem can be fixed for about $750,000, Snider said.

But Schwartz maintains the Coeur d’Alene River will flood more quickly now because hillsides have eroded into the river and the water level is higher than before.

The river has flooded twice a year for the last six, and water came within 6 inches of the top of the dike last year.

“Why spend tax dollars to do these temporary fixes time and again?” Schwartz asked. “We’re not looking at a Cadillac. We’re trying to solve the problem so we’re not up there evacuating people year after year.”

But regardless of what the Economic Development Administration decides today, the Army Corps of Engineers still must approve the plans. And corps employees have said they’d rather simply repair the dikes.

“There’s just not that much money available,” Snider said.

, DataTimes