FREMONT, Neb. (AP) - The Fremont City Council has approved spending up to $100,000 on a project to fend off floodwater caused by an ice jam along the Platte River.
The council decided to join Dodge County, the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District and a private lake development in building a diversion jetty, Mayor Scott Getzschman said Tuesday.
The Omaha World-Herald reported that City Manager Brian Newton said an ice jam normally wouldn't pose a threat to Fremont. But last year's catastrophic flooding damaged levees across Nebraska and many private levees - including the one west of town - haven't been fully restored.
Floodwater has washed out a temporary patch in the damaged levee, local officials said. The jetty will be designed to divert floodwater back into the river.
The goal is to lessen the chance the floodwater could wash out a roadbed that's acting as a dam. The road has been blocking the water from reaching Fremont.
Also Tuesday, a helicopter dropped a weighted ice breaker that was able to shatter a portion of the roughly three-quarter-mile-long (1,207-meter) jam. The effort was part of a test to see whether such a system would work and provide an alternative to dynamiting jams.