MUNSTER | The Munster Town Council approved spending up to $200,000 to continue constructing its own temporary levee until the federal levee project is complete.

Joe Nordman, with Robinson Engineering, along with Munster Town Engineer Jim Mandon told council members Monday the temporary levee would be built at 602 feet above sea level. The two said workers have been clearing trees and other debris since shortly after the September floods.

Interim repairs and improvements are being made on the levee from Northcote Avenue to a point on River Drive.

Where necessary, Mandon said concrete barriers will be installed in some areas, and a few spots would be walled with sandbags. The concrete barriers will be the last improvements made because engineers said it takes time to fabricate and deliver the barriers.

Munster Town Council member David Nellans also asked engineers to determine the cost of the levee work from River Bend to the state line, approximately a mile and a half away.

Dozens of residents from the Wicker Park neighborhood attended the meeting urging council members to push legislators, not just in Northwest Indiana, but across the state to support completion of the federal levee project.

Council members said they have individually talked to local legislators and Council President Michael Mellon promised to set a meeting so that residents also can meet with them.

Bridget Bodefeld told council members they need to "hold the governor's feet to the fire" and take a bus to Indianapolis to get money to finish the federal levee project.

Another resident talked about the importance of cleaning the silt from under the bridge on Northcote, something Mandon said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not support. He said the town has gotten approval from time to time to clean silt from Hart Ditch.

The effort to build protective levees along a 24-mile stretch of the river from Gary to the Illinois border began in the early 1980s, and construction started in 1991. The incomplete project was blamed for the September floods.