Encouraged by preliminary data that shows dams could lower the river level by up to four feet during a major flooding event, the Port of Centralia added its voice to a growing chorus of support for water retention Wednesday.
The port’s commissioners voted unanimously to back a study into two potential dams in the upper basin of the Chehalis River.
The project, sparked by the Lewis County Public Utility District and funded by the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority, has already garnered the support of the city of Chehalis, the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Chehalis.
Those entities have each passed a resolution similar to that approved by the Port of Centralia Wednesday.
The resolution notes the port’s support for the next phase of the study, the creation of a flood control zone, and the merging of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Twin Cities levee project with water retention.
The statements of support have been requested by the local grassroots group One Voice, a collection of local residents supportive of water retention. Representatives of the group made a presentation to the port commission Wednesday.
The Chehalis River runs adjacent to the port’s property off of Galvin Road in North Centralia. Port Executive Director Kyle Heaton said the compensatory storage excavation conducted ahead of a proposed Opus Northwest project in 2008 resulted in lower water levels when comparing the 2007 and 2009 Chehalis River floods.
He said that experience, and the data presented in preliminary studies showing a potential four-foot reduction in flood levels with water retention, is “amazing and substantial.”
“When you look at the scale, we think it’s extremely beneficial for our community,” Heaton said.
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Eric Schwartz: (360) 807-8245
