CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it is working to have a temporary fix on the Birds Point Levee in southeast Missouri by next March.

The Southeast Missourian reports that corps Cpl. Vernie Reichling said in a post on Twitter Monday that engineers are developing plans to temporarily fix the levee by March 1. A corps spokesman says the work could be done before then, but that was the deadline it felt comfortable announcing.

J. Michael Ponder, a Cape Girardeau lawyer, says the more than 80 property owners he represents in a federal lawsuit against the corps believe waiting until next spring will make their losses even higher.

Their land was flooded when the corps intentionally opened a hole in the levee in May to ease flooding downstream.