Quarter Century Flood Control Project Secures Funding, Creates Timetable

A final step in the decades-long effort to shore up the flood-prone Mud River in Milton may have been finalized.

Federal, state and local officials gathered in Milton on Monday to sign a project partnership agreement to commit more federal funds for the $400 million dollar flood mitigation plan.

The signing is part of the West Virginia Flood Risk Management Project designated for the city of Milton. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager Brian Lowe said the agreement leaves the federal government responsible for 90% of funding on the project, and the state government responsible for the remaining 10%. Lowe said an earlier $190 Million allocated for the project in March 2023 went in part to extensive planning.  

“Some of the funds that were allocated at that time were being used to essentially finish a study of what kind of refinements the design would be needed,” Lowe said. “All to make sure that we’re having the smallest impact we can in the human and natural environment.”

The massive project will create a proposal for about a mile and a half mix of concrete and earth floodwalls and levee systems. The wall’s height will range from 19 to 26 feet.

About 1,200 feet of the Mud River will be relocated, with placement changes for pump stations and traffic mitigation initiatives also planned. Lowe said the floodwall project concept goes back many years.

“The Corps of Engineers actually started some study work on the project back in around 1999, ” he said. “There are a lot of reasons that it has such a long history. Funding definitely plays a role in completing the studies, to complete the design, to pay for the real estate that has to be purchased. Ultimately, until we can get the real estate purchased for the project and the design complete, we won’t be able to move forward to the construction contract.”

The Mud River’s catastrophic flooding history dates back to the 1900s. A 1997 flood spurred damages that tallied more than $20 million.

At the agreement signing on Monday, Milton Mayor Shane Evans said the floodwall cannot come soon enough.

“For decades, our people have lived with constant worry that comes with being vulnerable to flooding,” Evans said. “We’ve seen the damage the high water can do, not just to our homes and our businesses, but to our sense of safety and security.”

Also at the agreement signing, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., expressed an expectation that the biggest hurdles to floodwall completion have been jumped.

“The off and on nature of this project has been frustrating for all of us, but we want to get right,” Capito said. “The  statistics involved in terms of frequency of a reflood — we want to get those as few and far between as we possibly can.”

Milton City engineers said now there is a 2.9% chance each year that catastrophic flooding could happen again, which equates to a recurrence interval of about once every 35 years. With the project, there is an estimated 0.4% chance each year that flooding could exceed the project’s design capacity.

Lowe said the timetable now goes forward from project design studies currently more than halfway completed. 

“We believe that the design will be completed in 2026,” Lowe said. “Right now, we’re looking at a construction contract award in 2027 with construction field work beginning approximately 2028.”

The City of Milton notes that once the project is completed, it will impact more than 600 structures, including residences, businesses, public structures, personal property and critical infrastructure.