iowa

Two more levee repair projects are underway south of Omaha following last summer’s Missouri River flooding.

The Corps of Engineers says a $43,000 contract was awarded for seeding along the levee from Bellevue to Plattsmouth. A $4.7 million repair project is also underway five miles south of Nebraska City.

Brett Budd, chief of the Omaha District’s Systems Restoration Team, says the work south of Nebraska City involves repairing scour holes and installing a seepage berm. He says the entire project will be complete by June first.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says additional storage space will be available in the six Missouri River main stem reservoirs this spring.

During a biweekly conference call Friday, Corps officials discussed conditions going in to the start of the spring runoff season, which begins March first. Jody Farhat, Chief of the Omaha District’s Water Management Division, says plains and mountain snowpack are below this time last year.

The season's first significant winter storm left behind nine to 12 inches of snow in the Omaha metro area.

The National Weather Service says 8 inches of snow was reported at Offutt Air Force Base, and 9 inches in Omaha.  In southwest Iowa, Pacific Junction received 10 inches of snow. 

Road conditions are expected to remain hazardous. Before traveling, check www.511.nebraska.gov and www.511ia.org for road conditions.

On the web: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/oax

A Rhode Island-based biofuels company is expanding its operation at a southwest Iowa plant.

BioProcess Algae broke ground Wednesday on a five-acre facility at the Green Plains Energy ethanol plant in Shenandoah. BioProcess opened a demonstration plant in 2009 at GPRE’s Shenandoah campus. The facility captures the waste products used to make ethanol, and uses them to grow algae. The algae is then used in animal feed.