Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Final contracts being awarded to repair 2011 flood damage

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than $180 million worth of repairs to Missouri River levees battered by the historic 2011 flooding are winding down. But critics complain the work is taking too long to complete.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it recently awarded its final levee rehabilitation contract, worth $31,000. That allowed a contractor to begin work on a damaged levee in central Missouri's Cooper and Moniteau counties.

Officials anticipate that repairs to it and other levees along the 2,341-mile river will wrap up this spring.

Missouri River levees sustained heavy damage in the summer of 2011 after the corps began releasing massive amounts of water from upstream reservoirs that had been filled with melting snow and heavy rains. The onslaught flooded farmland in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.