San Joaquin County declares state of emergency due to risk of levee failure in California Delta
San Joaquin County declared a state of emergency Wednesday for a potential levee failure on Victoria Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that could damage farmland and compromise water for the region.
County engineers on Oct. 21 found slumping at a levee on Old River that could damage Highway 4, a critical artery for the region. County officials took “emergency measures” to temporarily erect protective barriers, but the levee is still at risk, San Joaquin County’s Office of Emergency Services said in a news release.
“The failure of this levee could result in extensive damage to agricultural lands, disruptions along Highway 4, and compromised drinking water sources for the region,” the release said.
West Sacramento-based engineering firm Kjeldsen, Sinnock, & Neudeck Inc., tasked with coming up with solutions, discovered sand about 26 feet deep that became exposed to water, causing water to gush into land, said Christopher Neudeck, the principal engineer with the engineering firm and incident commander. He noted the firm spent about $1 million in a week to repair the damages.
At one point, flows reached up to 6 gallons per minute and threatened farmland ripe with about $130 million worth of investments, he said.
That rate of flow measures to filling two swimming pools per minute. The cause behind the damage has not been determined, though Neudeck said the levee was created decades ago.
“We have suspicions,” Neudeck said, but the exact cause has not been determined.
Residents living in the area have been contacted with updates on the repairs and emergency protocols, county officials said.
The declaration of a local emergency allowed San Joaquin County to request help from the state and federal agencies, said Christopher Neudeck, the principal engineer with the engineering firm and incident commander, in a statement.
Though the water has slowed substantially, there’s still a risk of collapse. A person is watching the levee around the clock to ensure its integrity, Neudeck said.
“We don’t know if another section will blow out and create a problem,” he said.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 2:33 PM.
