The Chronicle, 8/23/2002
If Lewis County voters help pass an increase in the state gasoline tax, that would enable the state Department of Transportation to help fund a flood control project for the Twin Cities.
That, in turn would help the DOT save millions of dollars it would otherwise need to spend to raise Interstate 5 to protect it from flooding in the area.
But regardless of whether Referendum 51 (that includes a 9-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase) is passed on the November ballot, Lewis County is doing the state (DOT) a big favor in pursuing Chehalis River system flood abatement. The DOT should help fund the project regardless of R-51's fate.
Granted, we are obviously helped too by keeping flood waters off our stretch of the freeway. But the primary purpose of the flood control effort for the Twin Cities is to protect all private and public property from damage, such as the millions of dollars in losses from the devastating floods in January 1990 and February 1996.
The DOT's primary interest in the local flood control project is, of course, to protect I-5 from a regional standpoint, so that the flow of traffic through our area to points north and south isn't disrupted.
But if our area hadn't taken the initiative, local officials hadn't spent all the time and contributed scarce local money to the flood control effort on the Chehalis and its tributaries in the Twin Cities area, the DOT would have to go it alone on 1-5 flood control here or spend millions of dollars to raise it when it's widened.
The DOT owes us. It should be an advocate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lead federal agency on the Chehalis flood control project, to make the project as comprehensive as possible to protect all of the Twin Cities area, not just the part of the project that protects 1-5.
The freeway shouldn't be protected at the expense of causing flood problems or not alleviating them in adjacent areas. An example is a proposed excavation of the Chehalis River channel near the Mellen Street Bridge in Centralia, which the Corps is still studying, but which it is not including in its overall Twin Cities flood control proposal for Congress.
Otherwise, the Corps, working with local officials, appears to have come up with a solid plan for flood damage reduction, not just for Centralia, but also for county, Chehalis and nearby private property.
The Corps held a public meeting Wednesday night in Chehalis on its recently released draft environmental impact statement, which must be accepted in final form before the project can go forward and gain federal funding approval from Congress.
The plan is for a system of levees, floodways and Skookumchuck dam improvements with an estimated price tag of $ 1 00 million, of which $65 million would come from the feds and the balance from Lewis County and the state.
The plan includes raising the dam to hold back water on the Skookumchuck to avert downstream flooding from that Chehalis tributary and flooding from the Chehalis where the two rivers meet.
A series of levees similar to the dike protecting the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, would be constructed. Higher water levels outside the dikes caused by them would be alleviated at least in part by opening a new floodway for the Chehalis, directing floodwaters away from nearby residential areas and public property in Chehalis. At the same time, a low-lying part of state Route 6 just west of Chehalis would be elevated to allow floodwaters to pass below.
Buck Hubbert, president of Tires Inc. in Chehalis, which was harmed by the 1990 and 1996 flooding, expressed general support at Wednesday's hearing of the Corps' plan, urging it to move forward. His firm will go out of business if it can't be protected from flooding, he said. "The only thing that's going to help this area is to turn dirt."
Concern has been expressed by a few local residents about dikes and the maintenance they require. But look at the dikes that project parts of Centralia now, including along the Skookumchuck. Properly constructed and maintained, they've saved the city untold money in flood damages over the years.
Dikes along the Cowlitz in the Longview Kelso area have been very well constructed and maintained by effective diking districts over the years and been very effective in preventing flooding from that river.
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