Crews working to fix Jefferson County levee

An emergency has been declared in Jefferson County. U.S Army Corps of Engineers were deployed to Jefferson County on Wednesday to help with levee repairs.

“If you imagine 10,000 basketballs rolling by you every second, that’s how much water is passing you at this point,” says Rebecca Squires, with Jefferson County Emergency Management.

Emergency managers asked for help to stabilize the eroded Heise-Roberts levee in Jefferson County.

“There’s no [immediate] threat to private property, obviously we have damage and we don’t want the levee to breech. If it does breech, water from the river would flow through onto private land,” says Squires.

Crews have been working to fix the damage.

“We’re bringing in lots of very large rocks with heavy equipment, we use like this excavator behind us to place the rock into the river and create an armor against the currents that will keep this levee from ‘sluffing’ off into the current.”

Even though there is no immediate danger, residents in the area are asked to keep tabs on the changing water and weather.

“Make sure that you’re tied into our emergency alert system.”

Here is the link to get connected.

Four agencies are working on the levee system: Flood Control District One, Jefferson County, Idaho Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.