TULSA — The Tulsa District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects the first phase of construction efforts to repair the Cumberland Levee system to begin Oct. 1.

The construction will mark the first of a two-phase repair effort on the Cumberland Levee system, which suffered a breach during the recent flooding.

Corps officials urge the public to avoid the inundation and construction areas until repairs are complete. Submerged power lines, utility poles, oil and gas equipment and floating debris could cause injury to persons or property.

The phase I repair project will consist of the construction of a temporary cofferdam on the river side of the 800 foot breach and provide for temporary repairs to an adjacent section of levee that suffered a partial breach. This will allow crews to dewater flooded areas behind the levee to permit re-opening of Highway 199 and facilitate permanent levee repairs. Pumping efforts to dewater the flooded areas are expected to begin in November 2015 and could take up to four months to complete, subject to weather conditions.

Phase II construction efforts will provide for permanent repairs required to return the levee system to the level of protection provided prior to the historic flood event. There are no plans to increase the height of the levee; however, it will be rebuilt to the Congressionally-authorized level of protection provided for more than 60 years. Design efforts for the phase II repairs are currently underway and are expected to be complete in spring 2016. Phase II construction efforts are scheduled to begin later that summer, subject to the availability of funds.

Record rainfall in May and June caused the Washita River to overtop and breach the levee, June 21. Floodwaters inundated an unpopulated area within the old Washita River floodplain, used primarily for oil and natural gas production. A $3.2 million contract for phase I repairs was awarded to Pontchartrain Partners, LLC., of Dallas.

The Cumberland Levee is part of the Corps’ Lake Texoma project and is located approximately 16 miles northwest of Durant, Oklahoma. The levee was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938 and was constructed by the Corps in 1943 as part of the construction effort for Denison Dam to create Lake Texoma. The primary mission of the levee was to safeguard a regionally important part of the nation’s strategic resource interests. That mission still stands today.