Work Overdue on State Levees, Officials Say

The Feather River levee that ruptured last week and caused the flooding of hundreds of homes was scheduled to be strengthened in just a few months, according to state and federal officials.

The repairs near Yuba City and Marysville were to be part of $31 million the federal government is spending to improve levees where floods inundated homes in 1986. That is in addition to more than $140 million spent by various government agencies in the more populated Sacramento area.

But flood control officials said that is not nearly enough compared to the estimated hundreds of millions more that would be needed to improve the reliability of the 6,000-mile patchwork of mostly earthen levees in the Central Valley.

“Really, the weak link in the system is the levees,” said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Jim Taylor.

As if to illustrate that point, swollen rivers Tuesday punched new breaks in levees along the San Joaquin River, but only one--south of Manteca--forced people to leave their homes. Two mobile home parks that front the river were flooded by that break, forcing 2,000 people to take refuge.

In the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a weakening levee was threatening to erode and flood the town of Isleton, population 850, which was inundated by a levee break in 1972.

Work crews struggled throughout Tuesday to bolster the levee with boulders, gravel and plastic sheeting to prevent erosion. But an unusually high tide and wind-driven waves continued to batter the berm, and it was unclear late Tuesday whether it would hold.

“They’re sending in heavy armaments for that levee,” said Eric Butler, chief of the state-federal Flood Operations Center. “If it goes, Isleton is definitely going to flood.”

Although most mandatory evacuation orders had been lifted, state emergency officials said more than 850 people remained housed in shelters.

Damage was still being tallied, but the early estimate was raised Tuesday to about $1.6 billion. Officials said it will rise significantly. Only 19 of the 42 counties declared federal disaster areas had reported damage estimates.

As weary flood crews battled the waters, a variety of lessons--often conflicting--were beginning to be drawn by hydrologists, environmentalists, farmers and politicians.

Some elected officials in the hard-hit Marysville area say that the flooding shows the need for the long-stalled $1-billion Auburn Dam on the nearby American River, while environmental critics say the floods are a warning that residential construction should be limited in flood-prone areas.

At the heart of the debate is whether officials have moved swiftly enough to shore up downstream levees, especially in the wake of severe floods in 1986 and 1995, and whether larger amounts of water should have been released sooner from dams such as Oroville along the Feather River to prevent flooding.

“Everyone knew the storm was coming. The question is whether you should have made releases early. These are questions. They aren’t answers,” said one member of a Sacramento-area flood control board.

Still others said nothing could have been done to overcome the forces of nature that whipped into Northern California. Some praised the way heavy flows on the American River were managed at Folsom Dam. They said that early release of water there cut the potential for flooding, especially near Sacramento.

“It was exquisitely well done and I am one of their principal critics,” said Ron Stork, a flood control specialist with Friends of the River.

Still, others are urging improvements at Folsom as well as strengthening of levees.

“What good are the dams if the levees don’t hold the flows back,” said Jerry Meral of the Planning and Conservation League.

Parts of the delicate levee system that protects cities and farmlands date back to the Gold Rush era and consist of layers of sand and earth. The cost of reconstructing levees can run $1 million to $2 million a mile.

But in the aftermath of devastating flooding near Sacramento in 1995, some land planners urged a different approach to building in flood zones. This week similar calls were issued.

“Levees and dams create a false sense of security that encourages flood plain development and increases the potential for catastrophic flood losses,” said Scott Faber, flood plains programs director for the group American Rivers. “Instead, Congress should fund voluntary relocation and land acquisition programs,” he said in a statement from Washington.

Times staff writer Max Vanzi and Reuters contributed to this story.