Funds Secured for Paducah Flood Protection

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will provide more than $19 million for critical repairs and upgrade of the City of Paducah flood protection system, reports U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell.

At a news conference held two days ago at the Carson Center in Paducah, Senator McConnell announced significant federal funding for the rehabilitation of the city’s floodwall.

In 1998, the City of Paducah began working with USACE to have the city’s floodwall authorized for a cost-sharing program with the federal government. The authorization process has taken several years with the Project Partnership Agreement for the reconstruction project authorized earlier this year.

City Engineer & Public Works Director, Rick Murphy, who has been working with USACE since 1998 thanked Sen. McConnell for his support in this project including his efforts to increase the project’s maximum funding cap and his support in moving the project authorization and appropriation forward.

“The floodwall rehabilitation and reconstruction scheme is a $32 million project which will be cost-shared between the federal government (65 percent) and the local government (35 percent).”

Murphy also stressed that the floodwall is structurally sound; however, many of the mechanical components such as valves and pumps are in need of replacement.

The floodwall is a concrete and earthen levee system that extends 12.25 miles. There are three miles of concrete wall and more than nine miles of earthen levee. It was constructed between August 1939 and July 1949.

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