The mild winter has let the Corps of Engineers make progress on repairs to facilities damaged by last year’s floods. But the Corps knows many victims find it hard to wait for the work to be done.
The Kansas City district office of the Corps expects to let 30 contracts for levee repairs before the work is finished. It’s up; to levee districts to resolve real estate issues that will let repairs be made–and to come up with the 20 percent share of repair costs, not an easy thing for some of the smaller districts.
The Corps says it’s sometimes hard to convince people they need to be patient while all of the issues are worked out before work can begin. Emergency Operations Manager Jud Kneuvean says the psychology of recovery is a consideration. He likens it to a grieving process. He says victims need to get beyond the mourning process before they can move on. Kneuvean says that’s a challenge for many victims.
District commander Tony Hofmann says it’s a challenging process to restore normal conditions. He says the Corps is working with levee sponsors to move things along as quickly as possible to get life in the disaster area back to normal. But he admits it’s difficult to counsel victims to be patient.