Make haste on control of flooding
The Chronicle 11/13/2001
With a wetter late fall and winter and the end of a year-long drought looking more likely, it is reassuring that our member of Congress in the 3rd District, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, seems on top of efforts to continue flood control work for Lewis County.
Baird reported Friday that an appropriations measure passed by Congress and awaiting President Bush's signature includes $1 million for the Centralia Flood Control Project and $250,000 to conduct the Chehalis River Basin Flood Study.
Baird realizes the importance of flood control for our area and vows to "continue to work hard" toward that objective. As Baird notes and the Puget Sound metro area should take heed - it isn't just the Lewis County area that suffers when the Chehalis River overflows its banks in the Twin Cities area: "When the 1-5 corridor floods, the flow of commerce from Seattle and Tacoma down to Portland halts and causes major economic losses to many different industries. We need to ensure that this critical transportation route is secure."
And, of course, for the same economic reasons, politicians in the metro area to our north should be strongly supportive of widening 1-5 through Lewis County.
The new federal funding "will be used to determine the next step" for the flood control project, Baird said, bringing it closer to actual construction. Flood control for the Twin Cities area, of course, should get priority over funding for the Chehalis River Basin study.
Flood control for Chehalis and Centralia has been studied to death, in fact, for decades. Meaningful, feasible projects to control the flooding have been identified and proceeding on such work is long overdue.
Granted, the overall basin, including the Newaukum and Skookumchuck tributaries of the Chehalis, probably deserves more study.
In any event, Baird is right on this: "Flooding can be disastrous to a community and ... we can work to improve areas that are flood prone. This is important to our families, our businesses and public safety." Indeed.
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