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Watershed structures prevent greater flooding damageStructures save southeast Nebraska millions in flood damages. Nebraska Southeast Nebraska continues cleaning up and drying out after mid-July's powerful storms, which dumped over 5 inches in just two hours in some areas. The bulk of heavy rain occurred from Fairbury through the Odell and Wymore area in southern Gage County. Although there were several county roads washed out and even more road closures--including Highway 77 just outside of Beatrice--the flooding could have been much worse if not for the small watershed control structures sprinkled throughout southeast Nebraska, according to Wally Valasek, District Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. NRCS, along with the Lower Big Blue Natural Resources District, has constructed flood control structures throughout Gage, Jefferson and Saline counties through the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act. These funds authorize NRCS to provide assistance with applying conservation practices like no-till, terraces and waterways and with the planning and installation of flood control structures like small dams and grade stabilization structures. These flood control structures and conservation practices work together throughout the watershed to catch and slow runoff from heavy rains. According to Valasek, some flood control structures were pushed to their limits during last week's storm. In the Big Indian watershed one of the structures located two miles north of Odell, Neb., was within inches of going through the emergency spillway. The rainfall collected behind the structure increased the lake area from 48 to 165 acres. The lake held back 1,000 acre-feet or 326 million gallons of water. The intensity of the rainfall filled the 32 Big Indian watershed structures to about 75 percent of their water-holding capacity. Valasek estimated the total amount of water held back by all the structures in the watershed was 5.3 billion gallons--enough to provide Beatrice with water for 2,428 days or 6.7 years. Valasek said, "If the dams hadn't been in that particular watershed there would have been extensive flooding in Wymore, Odell and Diller, which would have resulted in a tremendous amount of damage." According to NRCS Hydraulic Engineer Arlis Plummer the existing flood control structures in Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties helped prevent over $2.1 million in flood damages during the recent storm. "With big rain events like this we really see the benefit of flood control structures. They work together with conservation practices to prevent damage to infrastructure. When things like roads and bridges are spared from damages, then we're talking about a lot of dollars saved," Plummer said. Valasek surveyed the effects of the recent heavy rainfall throughout Cub Creek, Wolf-Wildcat Creeks, Mud Creek, Big Indian, Little Indian, Bear-Pierce-Cedar Creek, Mission Creek, Plum Creek and Clatonia Creek watersheds. He saw first-hand how the flood control structures and conservation practices worked together to lessen the damage from the heavy rainfall. "Terraces and waterways worked well to keep water from washing through fields. You could also really see the difference conservation tillage practices, like no-till, made in keeping soil from eroding," Valasek said. Southeast Nebraska has the highest concentration of watershed projects in the state. The Lower Big Blue NRD area alone has over 250 flood control structures. In the Lower Big Blue NRD the 11 completed watersheds control runoff from 34 percent of the district. With nearly 900 watershed dams constructed statewide, the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act has benefited over 1.6 million acres. Benefits include significant savings in soil erosion, water conservation, road and bridge damage reduction, wetland/upland wildlife habitat creation and most importantly, saved lives and property. The total benefits to Nebraska exceed $27 million each year according to NRCS. 8/4/08 Date: 7/30/08
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