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(Muscatine, IA) -- Community input is wanted on a $9 million Muscatine Island levee project proposal.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Muscatine community would raise the levee by 1 foot across a 3-mile stretch and add a hardening structure with a pump house to slow flooding. The structure would pump water going over the water side of the levee back to the river.
The improvement project follows a 2013 study evaluating the possibility of a levee breach and fears of increasingly dangerous flooding events.
"We've seen many natural disasters across the country and around the world occurring more often," said Rich Dwyer, a member of the Army Corps of Engineers. "In Muscatine, eight out of the top 10 historic crests have occurred since the year 2000."
Residents have until Wednesday, May 17 to send input.