Residents liked most of what they saw and heard Wednesday evening: A plan with a chance to keep their Twin Cities homes above the next big flood.
More than 100 people gathered at Centralia College to hear Pacific International Engineering officials explain details of their $1.1 million flood-control study of the Chehalis River Basin.
PIE officials touted the potential as "really fantastic," while acknowledging it will be at least another year before any work could possibly begin.
For more than a year, PIE has studied a slew of prospective engineering projects, gauging their effects with a complex computer model based on the 1996 flood.
"We now have a project that has the potential of going to implementation," said Harry Hosey, PIE manager.
Some people sighed, however, when officials said construction on any flood-control project likely would not begin before 2000 or 2001.
Hosey displayed numerous, colorful charts and graphs to explain potentially feasible flood-reduction projects.
PIE manufactured a computer model replicating the 1996 flood, using more than 300 cross-sections of the Chehalis, Newaukum and Skookumchuck rivers at flood stage. This "tool," Hosey said, can show overall effects of separate flood-control measures.
The favored alternative to date includes erecting a rubber weir atop the Skookumchuck Dam, excavating the riverbank upstream and downstream of the Mellen Street bridge, and redistributing floodwaters under part of Highway 6 (which would have to be raised) to inundate farmers' fields on the other side.
The result?
It's "really, really fantastic," Hosey said. "All of Centralia that had flooding … comes out of the flood plain."
Residents expressed optimism about the presentation, speaking with officials from state and federal agencies.
"I think they're on the right track," said Wally Johnson of Centralia, whose home flooded in 1996 for the first time in about 20 years. "Everybody has to be taken care of, or it isn't going to go."
Added Harold Borovec, engineer and chief mechanic of the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad Association, "I think the plan's got some merit. If it'll do what they say it'll do, it's got some real merit.
"It doesn't look like it'll do anything to us, and it looks like it may do a lot for us."
Judy Smith, whose home sits near the confluence of the Chehalis and Newaukum rivers, expressed concern about the effects filling in the flood plain. After a neighbor placed fill material to raise his nearby used-car lot, Thanksgiving Day's floodwaters lapped at her home's foundation, she said.
This convinced Smith, who bought her home after the 1996 flood, that filling in the flood plain can have local effects, if not overall regional consequences.
Officials acknowledged waiting another year at least may be difficult for citizens, but they said compared to other government processes, this is moving at "breakneck" speed.
"When we talk about (construction by) 2000, that's very quick by government time, but it means you'll be living another year in fear of a rainstorm," said U.S. Rep.-elect Brian Baird, D-Wash., who will take office in January.
"I drive this river all the time," he said, drawing laughs over his faux pas, as he meant to refer to Interstate 5. He corrected himself: "I'd like to be driving the road instead of the river."
The 1990 and 1996 floods inundated the freeway near Chehalis.
State Department of Transportation designs for widening the freeway have been placed on hold until the flood-control study is completed.
Lewis County Commissioner Richard Graham, the project manager, outlined the history of various flooding studies that date back to the 1920s, noting no study was ever implemented.
While officials have not endorsed any particular flood-control alternative, Centralia Mayor Jessie Brunswig urged citizens to write their elected representatives in Congress for help.
Local officials have said they will need state and federal money to pay for the estimated $80 million project.
"Write to these legislators," Brunswig said. "They believe what you say when it comes from the heart. … We must tell them that no action is not an option."
PIE will hold four more public meetings updating citizens on project, probably in late January or early February, in Montesano, Bucoda, Chehalis, and at the Chehalis Indian Reservation near Oakville.
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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