Community leaders and some local residents gathered at China Creek on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate completion of the second phase of the China Creek Project.
Centralia Public Works Director Kim Ashmore welcomed the audience before inviting Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston to speak.
Smith Johnston spoke about living near China Creek and how she learned about the project after she joined the council.
“The vision of what (the China Creek Project) could be, this is what we should all be striving to do,” Smith Johnston said.
Ron Averill, a former Lewis County Commissioner who represents Centralia on the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority, spoke about the difficulties involved in getting the China Creek Project completed, including problems with early solutions to flooding.
“The original solution to funding was to build levies. But the levies had a lot of holes in them,” Averill said.
According to Averill, smaller streams didn’t qualify for projects by the Army Corps of Engineers, meaning when streams like China Creek flooded, there weren’t levies to retain the water.
When steps were taken to address the flaws in the flood control system, problems again arose with the Army Corps of Engineers, which took two years to give their approval.
Another year was lost because of a lack of funding in the state capital budget. But things have improved since then.
Averill announced the Chehalis Basin Board decided in the past week to approve an additional $643,000 for the project, which will allow a gauge to be placed at China Creek to measure its water levels.
Averill said he hopes the gauge will be installed by November.
State Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, told the audience the China Creek Project has been a high priority for him.
“Living near China Creek, this project has been very personal,” Abbarno said.
In Abbarno’s view, projects like China Creek are important to preventing the “stigma” of flooding he believes hurts growth.
Edna Fund, a former Lewis County Commissioner and member of the Chehalis Basin Board, was stuck in traffic and missed her speaking time but arrived just in time to deliver brief remarks before the ribbon-cutting.
“This is an exciting project,” Fund said. “One thing you’ll know, when we say we’ll come back, we mean it.”
What’s next for China Creek? According to Ashmore, who Fund called an “all star,” plans are already underway for phase three of the China Creek Project, with phase four “out there” as well.
Work started in summer 2021 on the second phase of the China Creek Flood and Habitat Protection Project, located just off Gold Street.
The project aims to mitigate substantial flooding in the downtown area while also improving fish passage.
Most of the $2.91 million project had been finished by late last year, save for a flood-control weir that retains water in a basin and improves flows into downtown.
