The Pe Ell Town Council heard a presentation from the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority on Tuesday as part of an effort by the authority to reach out to communities after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pe Ell is the sixth locality Scott Boettcher, a staffer for the Flood Authority, has presented at in the past month.
Boettcher provided a brief history of the agency, including its formation in 2008, before showing the results of several of its local projects, which cost an average of $700,000 and take about two years to complete.
Among the examples of local Flood Authority projects Boettcher detailed was the dike constructed along Pe Ell’s wastewater treatment plant in 2014 at a cost of $521,000. The dike is approximately 900 feet long and stands 2 feet above the water level reached during the 2007 flood event.
As he closed the presentation, Boettcher highlighted the differences in the Chehalis Basin’s flood preparedness in 2007 versus the present. Pointing to a new flood warning system, the over 30 flood control projects completed and the broad array of people served by the Flood Authority’s efforts, Boettcher told the councilors the Chehalis Basin is in a much better position.
