Flood Control Project Gets Funding Aid

Efforts to complete the mammoth Santa Ana River flood control project and eliminate the flood insurance premiums paid by thousands of residents won a big boost Monday with a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to pay $100 million more of the cost.

County officials said Monday that the federal action brings them much closer to proceeding with a $472-million plan to raise the Prado Dam, which is the last phase of the $1.3-billion Santa Ana River widening project.

“With this, I believe the Prado Dam can be raised, giving the county protection against a 200-year flood,” said Supervisor Jim Silva, who lobbied heavily for the dam project. “Orange County will no longer be in a flood plain, and residents will save millions of dollars a year in flood insurance.”

Much of central Orange County, including portions of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, lie in the Santa Ana River flood plain, forcing homeowners and businesses to pay flood insurance premiums as high as $800 a year.

Last year, more than 35,000 homeowners saw their flood insurance rates reduced by as much as 50% because work on the river widening project reached the midway point.

But rates would drop further or be eliminated if the holding capacity of the Prado Dam can be increased, minimizing stress on the Santa Ana River. Plans call for the workers to raise the top of the dam from 566 feet to 594 feet, increasing its storage capacity by about 50%.

The project was placed in limbo after the county’s 1994 bankruptcy. As part of the bankruptcy recovery plan, the Orange County Flood Control District will lose $4 million a year for the next 20 years.

Silva and others have been lobbying the Army Corps of Engineers to get the dam project back on track by assuming more of the cost.

On Monday, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works approved a proposal by Rep. Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) that would cut the county’s share of the project from $335 million to $236 million.

The money will go not just toward raising the dam but buying property upstream, according to a statement from Kim’s office. The statement predicted that enough money is now available to move forward with the project.

The Prado Dam was built in 1941 and is intended to protect from large floods expected every 70 or so years. The river widening and dam raising would protect against larger floods, expected to occur on average once in 200 years.

“I’m elated that we’ve gotten to this point,” Silva said. “This will provide relief for people who pay for flood insurance and also provide the county with a very high level of protection against a catastrophic flood.”