JENKS, Okla. — Tulsa County commissioners are taking steps to prevent flooding like we saw along the Arkansas River in May 2019.
Commissioners approved a $1.3 million project to improve the Jenks levee, which circles 7.8 miles around the city.
“It protects downtown Jenks, it protects the airport, it protects all sorts of infrastructure that’s there as well," said Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith. "So it’s pretty important.”
The levee is currently high enough to protect against a 100-year-flood level. However, federal standards require it to be even higher for extra protection. Crews will add compacted soil to the levees to raise them up.
“This is really a dirt worm basically, special dirt," Keith said. "Anyway, so this one has to be built up so that it can get us through this century now. As we see climate change, and just seeing more and more weather that’s a challenge.”
The project came after the major flooding in May 2019. After the flood, FEMA evaluated the county’s levees to see where improvements are needed.
The Jenks levee is different from the west Tulsa levee, which took a big hit in the flooding.
“You know, so far the levee has held, so really grateful for that," Keith said. "It’s a totally different beast than the one that protects the Sand Springs, west Tulsa levee. Totally different beast.”
As for the west Tulsa levee, Keith said they're in the pre-engineering and design phase of fixing it. She said funds have been authorized for it, but they’re still waiting on them.
“We feel like it’s going to be in one of these infrastructure packages," Keith said. "It will be in the WRDA bill that’s coming out, Water Resource Development Authority, or some other authorization of funds.”
Construction on the Jenks levee is expected to begin early next year and will last through the end of the year.
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