State to begin repairing San Joaquin County levee that partially failed in October
STOCKTON — Heavy rain is expected to hit San Joaquin County this week, and it's bringing major concerns after a partial levee failure.
The levee is stable for now, but there's still a leak and the levee has drooped a bit since its partial failure in late October.
Back in October, we were told the county had exhausted all of its resources for a temporary solution, which forced them to declare a state of emergency.
On Monday, water was still running from underneath the levee and out onto an alfalfa field nearby. Crews have already used bulldozers and tons of mud, dirt and clay to try and patch it — but to no success.
Now, state officials will begin work on Tuesday to hopefully patch the levee once and for all.
We spoke with local contractor KSN, Inc. back in late October about what needs to get done.
"That material we placed out there, it was what we had. I had a lot of criticism about 'Why are you putting that junk in the water?' Because I have it," said Chris Neudeck, President of KSN Inc. "We've now done the analysis and we've turned it to the state."
Neudeck's hope is that the state can install a permanent solution to the levee damage.
San Joaquin County says that if repair work continues into December, they may need to extend the state of emergency. They have 60 days from October 30 to do so.
