MILTON-FREEWATER — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District continues to repair levees in the area that were heavily damaged during February flooding.

Crews completed repairs on the Dayton Levee Project last week and have turned their efforts to the Milton-Freewater Levee Project, officials announced Friday, Nov. 20.

“The two levee breaches were immediately repaired in late February, around the Couse Creek Bridge under an emergency contract,” Jeff Bonafilia, a Corps project manager, said in the release. “Now, we are going back to repair the other damage sites.”

In Dayton, the Corps reestablished and graded slopes, placed more than 4,800 tons of riprap and spall rocks, and placed fill material where the Touchet River levee was overtopped, the release stated. The Corps awarded the $800,000 contract to Northbank Civil and Marine Inc.

More than $200 million worth of exposed property around the Dayton levee area is now protected, the release stated.

Earlier this month, the Corps awarded a $3.8 million contract to Keu Inc. for repairs to the Milton-Freewater Levee Project.

Completion is expected by late January and will include reestablishing slopes and replacing riprap for at least 22 damage sites along both banks of the Walla Walla River, the release stated.

For more information about the Dayton Levee Project, contact Dayton City Administrator Trina Cole at 509-382-2361 or Columbia County Public Works Director Charles Eaton at 509-382-2534.

For more information about the Milton-Freewater Levee Project, contact Vern Rodighiero at 509-520-7061 or Brad Humbert at 509-301-1050.