Not true. SW Boulevard is in 500 year flood plain, while the Bottoms is in a 100 year, so much worse.voltopt wrote: Does the city subsidize flood insurance for the Turkey Creek valley? SW Boulevard is a higher flood risk than the west bottoms.
Turkey Creek floods because it has been tunnelized before it empies into the Kaw. The tunnel restricts the flow of water. The West Bottoms is protected by a levee which gives it a 500 year protection.jdubwaldo wrote: Not true. SW Boulevard is in 500 year flood plain, while the Bottoms is in a 100 year, so much worse.
Which answers the point of this thread, IMHO.
I'm pretty sure it got nailed in 1993, but 1993 was pretty ridiculous.voltopt wrote: I don't think the West Bottoms has flooded since 1951 - and that was before the levee and flood wall system was complete.
that's the opposite of what j waldo said.aknowledgeableperson wrote: Turkey Creek floods because it has been tunnelized before it empies into the Kaw. The tunnel restricts the flow of water. The West Bottoms is protected by a levee which gives it a 500 year protection.
I know there was recently some work done to Turkey Creek to help prevent flooding, and maybe this is a stupid question, but if it's the tunneling that causes flooding why don't they just do away with the tunneling and replace it with bridges or whatever?aknowledgeableperson wrote: Turkey Creek floods because it has been tunnelized before it empies into the Kaw. The tunnel restricts the flow of water. The West Bottoms is protected by a levee which gives it a 500 year protection.
The changes to Turkey Creek have been quite extensive over the many years. Here is a brief description.Stockton wrote: I know there was recently some work done to Turkey Creek to help prevent flooding, and maybe this is a stupid question, but if it's the tunneling that causes flooding why don't they just do away with the tunneling and replace it with bridges or whatever?
The Turkey Creek watershed in Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in the Kansas City, Kansas area has long been plagued with recurring flooding. Major flood control projects on this waterway include an early 1900’s diversion of the creek at its confluence with the Kansas River through the construction of a tunnel. Providing a relatively flat corridor in an area of rolling hills, the Turkey Creek floodplain in the southwest region of Kansas City has been a target of transportation related development since the 1800’s. The stream corridor includes a rail, highway and interstate system. Many changes have occurred to the stream system over time that have resulted in environmental degradation. These changes include floodplain filling, channel straightening, concrete lining, channel enclosures, filling in of on-stream lakes, and disruptions due to numerous road and utility crossings. Based on a U.S. House of Representatives resolution adopted February 2000, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Reconnaissance Study was authorized to evaluate the federal interest in solutions to recurring flood damages, environmental degradation and related water and land resource needs and opportunities. An expedited Reconnaissance Study was completed in July 2001. It recommended a number of different strategies to restore this urban stream and reduce flood damages. The environmental strategies included methods to stop stream downcutting, removing blockages to fish passage, retrofitting basins and swales for water quality benefits, acquiring remaining areas of open space, removing channel linings, reconnecting the floodplain and channel, emphasizing stormwater storage and infiltration systems over stormwater and floodwater conveyance systems, and implementing public information/awareness campaigns. The environmental strategies were complimented by flood damage reduction strategies that emphasized detention, relocations, flood proofing, and flood warning systems, in addition to structural flood protection.
The levee doesn't change the flood plain status, it just protects it from flood at a certain level. In 1993 the Kaw was flowing at a height that almost topped the levee. There has been some limited flooding over the years around the Kemper Complex but those floods did not come from the Kaw. One flood was the result of a failure at the pump station (the small building by the street at the SW corner of Kemper), the second flooding, if memory is correct, was the result of severe rains by the complex.bbqboy wrote: that's the opposite of what j waldo said.
From what I understood the Corp of Engineers intentionally flooded the Riverside levee district to alleviate the high water flow. The West Bottoms was not directly affected in 1993. Another example of a successful levee and pump system is North Kansas City - which did not flood in 1951 or 1993.bobbyhawks wrote: I'm pretty sure it got nailed in 1993, but 1993 was pretty ridiculous.
They can but not all levees are created equal and not all situations are the same. New Orleans is in a subsiding environment so the levees need to be continually assessed and the risk mitigated. The length of the levees are very long to protect the entire northern shore from Lake Ponchartrain which further heightens the risk. There also need to be engineering compromises to be able to maintain the numerous canals that come in off the lake. The risk will never be zero but the relatively short levees along the west bottoms coupled with an effective upstream flood control system make the two situations extremely different in terms of risk.FangKC wrote: Well, as we know from New Orleans, levees can fail.
The amount of flood control on the Kansas River, in terms of flood storage capacity in reservoirs, is extremely high. Things would have to get pretty bad before the levees would even be threatened.FangKC wrote: I grew up in Northwest Missouri along the Missouri River Valley there. Levees fail all the time, and the last time they failed up there was just this past summer.
This is especially true when levees are built on flood plain silt, because when there has been a lot of rain and high water, the bottom silt acts like a sponge soaking up water. When the silt is soaked, it turns into a type of quicksand and the stability of the levees is compromised--especially if there is a lot of water pushing up against the levee.
The ponds on the "dry" side of the levee go up and down in water level with the Missouri River. Thus, if the water table is high for a prolonged period of time, and the river is full for days on end, the levees get weak. The river doesn't necessarily need to top the levee either. If the underlying ground weakens because of saturation, the levee can begin to sink.
And that flood-wall along the south bank of the Missouri in the West Bottoms just makes me laugh.
I agree and I think I stated something like that earlier in this thread. Putting too many resources into the west bottoms just diverts them away from unfinished areas elsewhere in the core. KC's downtown revitalization needs concentrated attention in a few areas like the Crossroads, inside the loop but outside the P&L District, the River Market etc... before another area and a rather sequestered one at that starts to undergo a transformation.GRID wrote: I would just barricade off the west bottoms and not touch it till more of the Crossroads is redeveloped first. KC's ability to redevelop urban areas is already spread extremely thin. Concentrate on the Downtown loop east of Grand and the Crossroads.
you think there was a large population of artists living in the crossroads? the gentrification affected gallery owners, most of whom are still around due to increased activity or the availability of tax abatements. don't get me wrong, there's definitely pressure, but the old guard is pretty much still present. now there's just a bit of disparity between the higher-end galleries of the west crossroads and emerging spaces of the east crossroads.bobbyhawks wrote: It seems as if many of the young artists have moved away, and the West Bottoms is the next great frontier in the urban core.
