COLLEGE MEETING: potential solutions to problems of Chehalis River Basin to be aired in Centralia
By Sharon Michael, The Chronicle, 12/6/98
Two potential engineering solutions to flooding in the Chehalis River Basin will be reviewed at a Dec. 16 public meeting at Centralia College.
Pacific International Engineering consultants will provide a Chehalis River flood-hazard control project status report, and answer questions about their recommendations for reducing flooding in the Chehalis River Basin.
Representatives from various government agencies, including the Washington State Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will be on hand to answer questions about their involvement in flood-control work in the basin.
Government officials, consultants and WSDOT and Corps of Engineers representatives aim to answer citizens' questions about flood-control planning and efforts to find public money to pay for the flood-control projects estimated to cost $80 million.
"We want to describe the process, talk about what we think can be achieved, and then answer questions," said Chuck Gale, PIE project manager.
The Centralia forum will be the first of several community meetings to bring basin residents up to date on flood control planning.
"Centralia is the first one," Gal said. "We're trying out this format to see if it's going to be effective.
'It will start with a formal presentation on what we've learned with the modeling," he added.
During the past year, engineer have worked to design flood-control solutions that would substantially re duce flooding in the Centralia Chehalis area without increasing flooding downstream.
Lewis County and the state paid for development and testing of a sophisticated computer model that uses actual data on past flood events to evaluate flood hazard reduction alternatives and measure how each alternative would change flood conditions along the Newaukum, Skookumchuck and Chehalis rivers.
Engineers have identified "two promising alternatives," but Gale said there is "an ongoing process for identifying and evaluating additional alternatives."
The Chehalis River flood project is a joint effort of Lewis, Grays Harbor and Thurston counties, and the cities of Centralia and Chehalis.
Public forums will scheduled in January for Bucoda, Grays Harbor, Chehalis, and the Chehalis Tribal community.
Sharon Michael can be reached by E-mail at smichael@chronline.com or by calling 807-8237.