Flood-study officials will offer basic plan

Associated Press

OTTAWA, Ohio

Officials studying how to reduce flooding risks and hazards along the Blanchard River in northwest Ohio will present a basic plan for consideration by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders in the coming weeks, according to the regional corps office handling the study.

The plan, which isn’t final and probably will be adjusted, calls for three targeted efforts to decrease risks, the agency’s Buffalo District announced in a statement this week.

The plan suggests a channel could collect water from Eagle Creek and divert it back to the Blanchard River downstream from Findlay, and a levee could help block water from jumping the river’s banks in one area and flowing toward Lye Creek. The third part of the plan could involve steps such as raising structures or possibly buying out landowners in high-risk areas.

Addressing flooding along the Blanchard River is a top concern in areas where five major floods led to millions of dollars in damage since 2007.

The corps said the briefing on the plan will be a milestone in the yearslong study and will guide how the plan is adjusted or reworked before the study’s completion, planned by March 2016. Once the study is done, funding at the local or federal levels would have to be allocated for the outlined plan to be put into action.

The study has been difficult, complicated and sometimes controversial, but it remains the Buffalo District’s top priority project, district commander Lt. Col. Karl D. Jansen said.

“It stood out because to me, it has a direct impact on vulnerable citizens,” Jansen told The Lima News. “I noticed the last decade of flooding has been more so than the previous decade.”

The Corps and Hancock County are expected to split to the cost of the study, expected to be about $9 million, The (Findlay) Courier reported. Estimates for the actual flood-control projects are much larger and have ranged as high as $200 million in the county, it said.