When rain and snowmelt overwhelmed the banks of the Silvies River in Harney County earlier this month, one of authorities’ first actions was repairing a failing levee.

The levee was supposed to help protect the city of Burns from flooding, but after it broke, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to scramble to dump more rocks on parts of the 2.4-mile embankment standing between the town and the river.

The levee became a focal point in the emergency response, but its weaknesses were decades in the making. Federal agencies aren’t responsible for it, and neither are local or state ones, OPB found.

A 2019 report sent to Harney County officials spelled out how the levee needed significant repairs and improvements to meet federal standards. County officials said they didn’t act on repairing the levee because of funding shortfalls and a more existential dilemma — no one is officially responsible for maintaining it.

Harney County flooding cleanup and repair efforts continue, more Silvies River flooding possible

The blurriness over who’s in charge of key infrastructure that could have better protected Burns and the Burns Paiute Tribe from a historic flood points to a broader problem with aging levees across Oregon. Flood prevention advocates say neglected levees and dikes around the state will continue to be tested as climate change increases the risk of flooding.

The worst of the flooding in Burns was over by the time Gov. Tina Kotek toured the area April 10, but the aftermath was still clear in neighborhoods near the river, as residents started piling growing mounds of debris in front of their homes.

The extent of the losses is still being calculated. The American Red Cross reports 952 homes received “major damage” in the Burns area and on the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation. That’s the equivalent of about a quarter of all homes in Harney County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

‘A group hug scenario’

The Burns levee system is a 2.4-mile stretch of earth and rocks buffering the town from a bank of the Silvies. It was originally constructed by property owners along the river, though there aren’t clear records as to when. About 900 people live behind the levee, according to a federal database.

Local officials have long known that Harney County needed to improve its flood prevention infrastructure. A 2019 report from an engineering firm states that the levee would need significant repairs and improvements if it was going to be certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a move that would reduce the flooding risk on official flood insurance rates maps.

But one of the central challenges to fixing the levee is that Harney County doesn’t own it. Nor does the city of Burns, the federal government or any other public entity.

The levee system is on private land. The 2019 report states that the county doesn’t even have right-of-way access to conduct repairs and maintenance. Harney County planner Brandon McMullen said there is no central agreement to govern the levee.

“(We) don’t have central ownership of it,” he said. “It’s a kind of a group-hug scenario.”

Unclear responsibility across Oregon

Colin Rowan, the director of planning and public affairs for the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District in Portland, said these scenarios are fairly common. His organization maintains 27 miles of levees along the Columbia River and advocates for flood safety across the state.

He said Oregon went through a flood infrastructure boom in the early 20th century. People across the state built hundreds of miles of levees, dikes and embankments, especially along the Oregon Coast, in the Willamette Valley and throughout Eastern Oregon.

“Some of these embankments and dikes and levees were built over 100 years ago,” Rowan said. “There’s not clear responsibility. There’s also sometimes unclear funding. How would you actually pay for it? Even if it was privately-owned land or publicly-owned land, they might not even know that repairs are needed.”

Flood survivors hold on for help as Kotek tours damage in Harney County

Climate change is increasing the risk of floods, Rowan said, and although the state has taken measures to provide more money for flood prevention, it’s not enough.

“There’s just not that many capital dollars to go around to bring those up to more stringent federal standards, or really to the standards that people expect to keep them safe,” he said.

An uncertain outlook

Harney County is now shifting gears from emergency response to long-term recovery, announcing April 21 that it was lifting the final set of evacuation notices and shutting down the emergency shelter.

State Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, said he’s focused on meeting the short-term flood relief needs of his home county.

Owens said legislators are putting together a relief package centered around repairs to Burns’ sewer system and transitional housing for residents whose homes are uninhabitable after the flood.

While funding flood prevention has been a part of past discussions, he said it is a longer-term goal.

In 2022, the Harney County government commissioned a report to look at updating the broader Silvies River flood prevention system. Those plans didn’t involve improving the existing Burns levee. The report recommended a number of other measures, from building new drainage ditches and flood control structures to reintroducing beavers.

Around that time, McMullen said the county was trying to get $4 million from the state to fund some of these projects. But the funding was not added to the state budget.

“We would have had something actually more effective than fixing the dike or trying to throw a bunch of money at something that could take years to do,” he said. “We could do it in just a couple. Unfortunately, that funding opportunity didn’t happen.”

“It’s a bummer.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/24/harney-county-flood-burns-responsibility/