LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Several organizations including The Commissioners of the Riverdale Levee Improvement District and the Army Corps of Engineers met on Monday during a meeting at the Tom Glaze Auditorium.
The primary focus of Monday’s meeting was to update people who live in the Riverdale neighborhood on the three ongoing projects and to discuss long term solutions to some of the issues brought on by the Arkansas River Flood.
This comes after the Riverdale Community was affected by flash floods earlier this year.
One before the historic Arkansas River Flood, and one after.
The flash flood prior to the Arkansas river flooding was caused in part by a broken pipe. The fixture of that pipe is being largely funded by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Currently, storm drains and portable pumping stations are being used to temporarily keep water out of the area, that’s considered a separate project.
The pumps cost 60 to 70 thousand dollars per month to operate. That’s why engineers say they are hoping to obtain a grant or FEMA money to help fund that project.
“There are two other projects that happened during the flooding event, so they should be eligible for FEMA, that is the pumping that is going on in the Riverdale area and the marina wall that the rock was used to help stabilize,” said Jay Whisker, a civil engineer with McClelland Engineering.
As of Monday, there was no permanent solution to the marina wall that was tilted over by the high river levels during the historic flood. The lock to the marina also remains closed due to that issue so engineers say fixing the wall is also of high priority.
There is no timeline for when the pipeline will be fixed, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that project could be finished by the end of the year, at the earliest.
As far as the marina, engineers said they will continue to explore options until they find one the community can agree on.