Hudson reviews flood points

A meeting planned for this month with the Army Corps of Engineers became, instead, a phone call.

Commissioner Barry Hudson said Monday that he, Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman and a coordinating committee had spoken with representatives of the Corps last week about a study of Salamonie River flooding.

Out of that meeting, said Hudson, several points surfaced:

•The Corps’ focus is on those times when a river actually comes over its banks, while Portland’s downtown flooding has typically been related to water backed up from the river via the Miller Branch. “Unless it comes over the banks of the river, they don’t get involved,” he said.

•The Corps confirmed that a re-routing of Millers Branch to a point east of Portland would only cause the river level to rise less than one inch. The engineering firm of Jones and Henry had proposed the re-routing, but city officials have been skeptical.

•Though the original letter of intent seeking the feasibility study was sent by the county commissioners, the contract for the study is limited to that section of the river inside the city limits and does not address issues such as Millers Branch.

•There are no specified limits to what the city can or should do while maintaining the section of the Salamonie River channel in Portland that was dredged and widened about 1959. Instead, the Corps limits are “vague,” said Hudson.