DAVENPORT, Iowa- Thanks to a newly released report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we now know why the flood barrier failed.
The Davenport City Council says they received the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report about the April 30 flood breach.
The report was handed down Tuesday, July 16. The report indicates that the breach was "caused by the barriers sliding under river pressure as a result of too little friction between River Drive and the barrier caused by plastic sheeting and wet surfaces."
The city says based on the report, multiple changes to the flood operations plan will be instituted as recommended by the Corps of Engineers.
Read the report yourself here.
According to the report, the barrier should not have failed. However, the barriers likely began to slip due to wet pavement and plastic sheeting conditions.
"We've got to be better the next time we have a flood," Alderman Kyle Gripp says. "Whatever system we have in place has to be better than before."
"Canadian Pacific operations were not a cause of the breach"- City of Davenport
The city says on their website that the public works department will be making changes to its flood plan based on the report.
Those changes include reducing the risk of slippage by changes to plastic sheeting installation, double-stacking flood barriers at a forecast flood height of 20 feet or more and developing an emergency communication plan for flood plain properties within the protected area. Changes in the flood plan will be implemented immediately and employees will be trained on the new methods recommended by the Corps of Engineers report prior to the next flood event.
