Property Owners Need to Make Changes Near Levees

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — About 20 property owners in Waterloo will have to dismantle everything from gardens to parking lots that encroach on levees along the Cedar River and Black Hawk Creek.

Associate City Engineer Jamie Knutson says a new effort to crack down on developments along the levees won't be popular with residents, but local officials don't have a choice. That's because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has rated the flood control system as inadequate, in part because of work done on property bordering the levees.

If residents don't make changes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency could remove the flood control system from flood insurance rate maps, putting downtown Waterloo and many neighborhoods in a flood plain. That would force residents to buy costly flood insurance.