A broken levee on the Sacramento River. Photo by the U.S. Corps of Engineers
A coalition of residents, businesses, property owners and managers have joined forces to advocate the expedited repair of the levees protecting Sacramento’s Natomas basin.
The new group is called “Fix It Now” and is putting together a petition to urge the governor to declare a state of emergency, which would help get the repairs sped up.
BACKGROUND:
- Permits were granted to develop and build in Natomas based on assurances that the region had 150-200 year flood protection.
- In 2007, the US Army Corps of Engineers, using a new post-Katrina methodology, determined that they could not certify the Natomas basin as even having 33 year flood protection.
- 70,000 residents face potential loss of life and/or homelessness within hours of a catastrophic levee failure.
- The Natomas basin lacks adequate exit routes in the event of mass evacuations.
If you are interested in working with elected officials to expedite repairs to the Natomas levees, join the Fix It Now group. Membership is open to all Natomas stakeholders.
At some point we need to look at raising I5 and 80 to facilitate evacuation if there is a flood. Right now we would be trapped. Very poor planning.