Dozens of Corpsmembers Work to Shore Up Sacramento County Levee

corpsmembers using shovels to fill sand bags

A group of Corpsmembers works to fill sandbags along a levee in Wilton, CA near the Cosumnes River.

Nearly 100 Corpsmembers have spent days walking in the rain and mud, brought on my atmospheric river storms.

This is no leisurely walk in a park, however. They’re filling, lugging, and placing sandbags weighing 30 to 40 pounds across a rain-soaked levee.

 

Their mission—from California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Water Resources—is to install wave wash protection—plastic sheeting weighed down by sandbags—to prevent further erosion along the Cosumnes River.

If the levee breaks, homes, ranches, and businesses would be flooded. It’s challenging, muddy, exhausting work.

The motivation for Corpsmembers to keep at it, is easy to find. This is their county, their state.

The dramatic nature of the work was captured by our partner agency the California Department of Water Resources by the air in the below post on social media.