Another crack discovered in south Sutter County levee

Officials have discovered another crack in the northern levee of the Natomas Cross Canal in south Sutter County, raising the cost to repair it and other storm damage to $4.1 million.

Earlier this week, inspectors with Reclamation District 1001 discovered a new 100-foot crack about 300 feet west of where a crack was discovered last month.

County and district officials said they still believe the levee is not in danger of failing. Water in the canal, which takes runoff from Placer County to the Sacramento River, is about a foot below where it was when cracks were first found on March 21, said Sutter County spokesman Chuck Smith.

RD1001 General Manager Diane Fales said for now, district employees aren't covering the crack with plastic and sandbags to prevent it from getting worse, as they did elsewhere. "If a storm comes in, then we can do that," she said, acknowledging forecasts show possible rain today in the Yuba-Sutter region. "We are watching it."

The earlier cracks eventually grew to 300 feet, and Fales said she believes both cracks have the same root causes.

"We had some drought years, and the levee dries out and starts cracking," she said. "Then the wet season starts and it opens up."

As a result of the new cracks, as much as 1,000 feet of levee will have to be replaced, according to Sutter County emergency operations manager John DeBeaux Jr. The county has submitted a request to the Governor's Office for a disaster declaration to allow the county to receive money to do so.

Repairing the levee will cost an estimated $4 million, in addition to $100,000 in other repairs needed around the county from storm damage.

Smith said the state has until a month after those strong storms began on March 17 to declare such a status.

So far, the county hasn't gotten word on how soon the state will act. An official with the California Emergency Management Agency said the request is being processed, and the agency is monitoring the levee.

The county will need to establish the damage has outstripped its ability to pay for the state to get involved, she added.

Sutter County supervisors have already declared a local emergency over the crack, which if it led to a levee failure would inundate about a hundred homes and thousands of agricultural acres.

County officials noted with warmer weather melting a strong snowpack, the water levels in the levee and the river will be continually monitored.

The cross canal levee is about 50 feet tall, and made of a soil with a heavy clay content, Fales said. As a result, she said it's sturdier than one made with sandier soil. But she also said she can't rule out the possibility the levee might crack further.

If money for repairs comes through, the work won't be done until the rainy season is definitively over, she added.