Many of Winslow’s critical facilities, including the hospital, emergency dispatch center, fire department, schools and wastewater treatment facility, are vulnerable to flooding while the levee remains unrepaired, according to Navajo County Assistant Manager Homero Vela.
Vela explained that although plans are moving forward to rehabilitate the levee and protect the town against flooding, it is vital to keep decision-makers who authorize funding for the project aware of its importance.
“Schools, medical facilities and other critical facilities could be flooded,” he said. “The levee is there, though it’s not certified and it does offer some protection, we need to get this project completed.”
The levee has failed in the past, and the area has been prone to flooding for hundreds of years. In 1993, flood water went over the top of the levee, washing out a 400-foot section, and resulting in neighborhoods in Ames Acres and Bushman Acres being filled with up to four feet of water. A total of 204 parcels of land and 140 structures were damaged in the incident, according to Vela, and he noted that if the same type of flooding were to occur today, it would threaten the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which uses a gravity collection system and has five pump stations within the floodplain.
Although repairs were completed by 1994, the levee failed again nearly 10 years later in 2003. This time, floodwaters ran underneath the levee due to a piping failure. Fortunately, Vela explained, the problem was identified in time to prevent serious property damage and floodwaters were contained.
A serious flood, however, could put much of Winslow in jeopardy. The police department’s phone switching system is located in a low spot where water would quickly gather, and so is the department’s back-up system at the firehouse. The wiring system for the hospital is underground and the generators are at ground level, where they are vulnerable to flood water. Four schools are located within the floodplain, as is most of the historic downtown area. Vela pointed out that one of the city’s critical north-south routes which connects to Highway 87 has an underpass that dips 14-feet below street level and could be one of the first places to fill with water.
In addition to causing woe to residents of Winslow, a 100-year flood event could also disrupt major east-west cargo transportation, including the railway and Interstate 40. Vela noted that an average of 120 double-stack trains and 7,040 cargo trucks pass through each day. A catastrophic flood could disrupt the major routes of access from the east to the major Los Angeles shipping ports.
While local government officials already recognize the importance of rehabilitating the levee, a video was produced by the Tomhave Group, a lobbyist employed by Navajo County, to help make federal officials aware of the significance of the levee and the potential for disaster. The video is available on YouTube by searching the term “Winslow levee.”
In the meantime, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is finalizing the feasibility study, which was the first step in rehabilitating the levee and preparing to move on to the next stage of planning and design. The design phase is expected to take two to four years and cost around $7.25 million, including a local share of $2.53 million. Once complete, the construction phase will begin, however, it will require an estimated $58.95 million in funding, of which 65 percent must be accessed from the federal government.
