Craig Sheppard is the president of the board of directors of the Elwood-Gladden Drainage District in Doniphan County, Kansas. We caught up with Craig on the levee as contractors were repairing a scour hole caused by the 2010 flooding event. The job was approved by the Army Corps of Engineers last year, but was accelerated because of rising releases upstream on the Missouri River.

Workers dump a permanent cover of rock, called “rip rap,” to shore up eroded areas of the levee. Contractors are also building a haul road within the levee’s boundaries to carry tons of sand, which will be used in coming weeks to reinforce the levee.

Sheppard says the levee is in good shape. He offered two words of advice for residents faced with some daunting numbers from the National Weather Service and the Army Corps of Engineers: “Don’t Panic.”