- Not anymore than before
This video as seen at The Dispatch-Argus may for some lend credence to such costly advocacy. Watch old-man-river fill that parking lot up to the rail in the foreground in about 6 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=121&v=6nFEdNmn5kI
But keep in mind that provisions had been made that minimized this breach in spite of the “record” river height. Lesser crests in previous years advanced further into the city proper. I remember well the flood of ’65, a long time benchmark in this area advancing much further and more recent floods considerably further than this one. I agree with Davenport Mayor Klipsch as quoted in this Des Moines Register article:
Mayor Frank Klipsch says the high cost of construction, coupled with Davenport’s relationship with its 9-mile riverfront, motivates the city to maintain course with its current flood control plan.
“This system works very well,” he said at a news conference Wednesday. “… The city has been protected and, for the most part, continues to be protected.
“The city of Davenport isn’t underwater — it’s a portion of it — and that’s very important to us.”
Davenport typically sees flooding every year on streets and in open space along the Mississippi River that’s designed for flood control. But this event — with the river now at its third-highest recorded level — is more reminiscent of the historic 1993 flood, when the river displaced hundreds of businesses and residents and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Floodwaters breached the city’s temporary HESCO barrier at River Drive and Pershing Avenue on Tuesday, flooding a two- to three-block area along River Drive and Second Street and forcing a rapid evacuation of area businesses and residents.
Stress points of the HESCO barriers* need better monitoring**, primary or auxiliary placement perhaps but who believes the “current” cost estimates ($174 million) of the Corp of Engineers as regards a permanent sea wall? This flood while “deeper” for Davenport in its position along the river this season can not be considered greater than the flood of ’93 – the vastness of that situation for so much of the Midwest.
Related reading: https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/THE-FLOOD-WALL-DEBATE-Why-Davenport-is-the-only-Quad-Cities-City-without-one-508033921.html
*Basically big-ass sand bags that are opened on site and filled by an end-loader. Removal and clean up is simple.
**at about two seconds into the video look at the center left upper part of the video and see a person running away from the breach to the left — who was that person and what did he see?
