The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has met its deadline on the most critical levee repairs on the Missouri River from Omaha and Council Bluffs to just below the Missouri border at Rockport and the levees are ready to handle high water again.

The corps says five breaches have been closed and several damaged segments have been repaired from last summer's historic flooding.

The corps' Bret Budd says work on the last of the five breaches, near Percival and Hamburg in Iowa, was completed Tuesday.

The work, which has been ongoing since January, was urgent before the 2012 runoff season begins - even with the mild winter.

March 1 is the typical start of the runoff season, when the first significant water from melting snowpack enters the river.

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