On 13 May 2002, the groundbreaking ceremony for the rebuilding of the levee around the town of Elba Alabama was conducted. Speakers at the ceremony included Governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman; James Grimes, Mayor of Elba; United States Senator Richard Shelby; the wife of United States Congressman Terry Everett; Alabama Speaker of the House Seth Hammett; Alabama State Senator Jimmy Holley; Alabama State Representative Terry Spicer; Alabama State EMA Director Lee Helms; Colonel Robert B. Keyser, Army Corps of Engineers; and Ferrin Cox, Chairman of the Local Task Force who coordinated the development of a levee rebuilding plan. When the USACE completes the project in approximately 18 to 24 months starting this fall, the levee will be fortified with a core, increased in height by as much as 6 feet in some places and the base of the levee widened to as much as 65 feet in some locations. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $12,900,000. Non-federal cost share paid by the State of Alabama will be $4,655,000. For comparison purposes, the cost of the 1990 flood was $150,000,000 including clean up, restoration and the relocation of the schools to higher ground. Geneva, Alabama will receive the next levee upgrade at a cost of $16,000,000 total cost, $12,000,000 paid for by the State of Alabama. The Geneva ground breaking will take place this fall.
The town of Elba Alabama sits at the confluence of Beaverdam Creek, Whitewater Creek and the Pea River. Elba has repeatedly been threatened by potential or actual flooding over the years. The levee upgrade is a result of three occasions of severe flooding in Elba occurring in 1990, 1994 and 1998. The current levee was built in 1930 after a record flood event in 1929. The levee however, was breeched in the 1990 and the 1998 floods. In 1998, Beaverdam Creek eroded through the levee south of Elba, resulting in 2 feet of water flooding the town in minutes eventually rising to 6 feet deep. Two people died in an automobile that was swept away. However, the NWS had already coordinated a flood warning that resulted in the start of an evacuation of Elba before the levee failure, thus saving many lives.
As a result of these most recent floods, a long term Recovery Action Plan that included upgrading of the levee was issued in April 1998 by the President. Through continued effort by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby; Alabama State Senator Jimmy Holley; Mr. Ferrin Cox, Chairman of the Governor's Long Range Task Force Committee of the Levee Project; Congressman Terry Everett, Alabama State EMA Director Lee Helms, and Barbara Gibson, Director of the Choctawhatchee, Yellow and Pea River Watershed Management Authority (CPYRWMA), funding was allocated to the USACE do the levee upgrade.
During the levee dedication event Joel Lanier, Service Hydrologist from the Weather Forecast Office in Tallahassee, Florida and Senior Hydrologists Jonathan Atwell and Tom Wallace from the Southeast River Forecast Center in Peachtree City, Georgia, had opportunity to meet with Alabama State Senator Jimmy Holley, Barbara Gibson, Mr. Ferrin Cox and Ray Barley, Flood Warning System Specialist of the New Brockton Emergency Management Center.
Following the dedication, Ray Barley gave a brief tour to Jonathan, Tom and Joel as well as many explanations of what occurred during the previous flood events. We viewed the 1990 and 1998 levee breach areas, a pumping station and the Alert and USGS gages in Elba. We ended up at the New Brockton EMA office where Ray Barely gave a demonstration of his DIADVisor Stormwatch system which track's precipitation and generates localized river forecasts.
As a result of the trip, and educational interaction, effort is underway to enhance the coordination and cooperative exchange of data and river forecasts between the NWS and local agencies supporting communities in Southeast Alabama.
Left to Right:
Left to Right:
Let the Groundbreaking Begin!
Ferrin Cox Speaking, with Governor Siegelman standing to the left.
View of the Levee and Dedication Ceremony
Left to Right:
Interesting Notes:
A school used to be behind the levee (between the levee and the highway to the right.) The levee washed out in this area in the 1990 flood, flooding the school. The school was relocated after that flood. The ceremony took place in the background just to the right of Jonathan and Tom.
A new pumping station was installed after the 1990 flood so that water trapped behind the levee could be pumped out. In 1990 the water emptied out after a section of the levee collapsed letting the water out after a week or so. In the 1994 flood, it only took a couple of days to pump the water out.
Ray Barely stands by his Alert System River and Rain Gage by the Pea River in Elba. Tom Wallace to the left.
USGS Gage house nearby on the Pea River in Elba. The Alert Gage is within 100 feet to the left off the road.
Jonathan Atwell and Tom Wallace watch Ray Barley run the DIAD Stormwatch system, which now monitors 17 Alert Systems across Southeast Alabama in the Choctawhatchee, Yellow and Pear River Watershed Management Authority basin area.
Article and photos by Joel Lanier
with contributions from Barbara Gibson, Janice Adams,
and the Elba Clipper newspaper.
Alabama Regional Map courtesy of National FFCas of the United States.
Elba Topographic Map courtesy of Microsoft Terraserver and USGS.