Levee to prevent flooding along Des Plaines River

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A new levee to prevent floods along the Des Plaines River will help keep some 600 homes dry in suburban Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights.

Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Jan Schakowsky were on hand Monday to help celebrate the completion of Levee 37, part of a big project to prevent flooding along 80 miles of the Des Plaines River.

"This is an issue which in this area we face with regularity," Durbin said. "So, any single piece of this ends up being part of the whole contribution, the whole challenge that we face."

The levee cost about $37 million to build. Most of the funding was federal.