Repairs are underway for breaks in the Black River levee responsible for flooding last month of Highway 53 and county roads east of the Poplar Bluff city limits.
Work on the largest of the three levee breaks in a section called 'no man's land' finished Wednesday, said Butler County Highway Superintendent Gary McDonald. It measured 100 feet across and more than 8 feet deep.
About half of the Butler County Highway Department crew has been redirected to levee work now that the area is dry enough for heavy equipment, he said. Workers have also been making repairs to an estimated 600 miles of county roads damaged by flooding.
These breaks occurred at the end of county roads 607 and 605 and are outside the boundaries of any drainage district maintained by the public or the county.
The area from the Poplar Bluff city limits to the Missouri Department of Conservation's Dan River Access is considered private land, held by multiple landowners.
More than 100 dump truck loads of dirt were needed to complete the first repair, which ties into a break the county fixed in September.
County workers needed another 70 loads of dirt to build an access road across a slough for heavy equipment. The road has to be removed when work is finished.