Two local leaders have joined the volunteer citizens organization advocating for solutions to flooding in the Chehalis River Basin.
On Thursday, One Voice Lewis County announced its board of directors unanimously approved the additions of Centralia City Councilor Adrianna Garibay and Pe Ell Mayor Lonnie Willey.
“People have been talking about ideas for flood damage reduction in this basin for a century. Finally, real work has been done. But we have more to do. That’s why I’m joining One Voice,” Willey said.
The board is chaired by former Lewis County Commissioner and longtime member of the Chehalis River Flood Authority Edna Fund and co-chaired by Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum.
“I’m excited to join One Voice to continue to advocate for our families and communities. I work with so many families who have no extra money. Those families are often concentrated in homes or apartments vulnerable to huge floods,” Garibay said in a statement. “Protecting those families is my main goal in joining this volunteer board. That is why I support the proposed flow-through dam.”
In addition to Ketchum and Fund, the board includes resident Dan Maughn, Port of Centralia Commissioner Kyle Markstrom and Isabel Vander Stoep, the former assistant editor of The Chronicle.
In August, the Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Zone District unveiled a proposal for a redesigned water retention system on the Chehalis River just outside Pe Ell that would be “tailored to the unique needs of the Chehalis Basin.”
When activated, which would only occur when flooding is forecasted, the facility’s reservoir could hold approximately 62,000 acre-feet of water.
The structure would only hold back a reservoir at times when flooding is in the forecast and would address many of the concerns raised in state and federal environmental reviews completed over the last several years.
“The flow-through dam design for flood control will allow open fish passage year-round
and will only act as a flood facility to prevent catastrophic flooding,” Ketchum said. “The huge storms that hit here every five to 10 years concentrate rainfall in the Willapa Hills, causing the worst of our flooding are the primary source of Chehalis River flood water. That’s why the facility is proposed above the town of Pe Ell. The state environmental impact statement (EIS) is expected to be completed by the end of next year.”
A revised EIS for the project is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2025, and a final EIS is scheduled to be released in early 2026.
One Voice was established by local dentist Dr. John Henricksen following the 2007 flood, amid opposition to a proposal to build levees to protect Interstate 5 from future disaster, a plan the group says would have simply diverted water to other parts of the community, rather than reducing the potential for extreme flooding in the basin.
During the flood, the freeway was shut down for nearly a week as water covered much of the roadway while more than 1,300 homes were destroyed.
In a statement Thursday, One Voice said it supports “the Aquatic Species Restoration Plan as a necessary and primary part of the solution.”
“Our organization was named One Voice because people in the basin must work together. So much progress has been made since 2007 with more than 130 flood projects as well as habitat projects completed,” Fund said in a statement. “These flood projects are in place and benefit every community from Pe Ell down the river to Aberdeen/Hoquiam as well as Interstate-5 and Bucoda on the Skookumchuck. Citizens, tribes and communities across the basin and in Olympia have worked together to make this progress on local projects. In addition, we continue to advocate for a basin-wide solution that includes water retention as a key part of a basin-wide flood plan.”
Learn more at https://onevoicelc.com/.
See more about the proposed flow-through dam at https://tinyurl.com/27fvpyrc.
