Flooding problems on the southern west coast of Washington State are not a new phenomenon. Coastal communities have long experienced it in winter months but as coastal communities grow and need more land for development the problem worsens. As development occurs the lowest land is occupied last and the last lands are our natural flood storage wetland areas
It appears that local City and County jurisdictions have no comprehensive way to deal with wetland development. Although there are wetland protection measures on the books our natural flood retention areas keep getting developed one way or another and accumulative impacts are not being addressed in an orderly manner. In essence: a comprehensive wetland/drainage plan must be in place before development occurs
The Cohasset Park preliminary plat for the Pacific Ocean dune areas of Westport is a good example of development for developments sake. No thought was given to accumulative impacts to developed areas that are already flooded in the winter. Given this situation the citizens have banded together to resolve their concerns once and for all
Information provided by Friends of Grays Harbor
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