Since moving into her home along the Newaukum River in 1990, Chehalis resident Sue Rogers has seen the destructive force of flooding plow through her property repeatedly.

     In 1991, the two-story home took on several inches of water. In 2007, the situation became more severe as a record flood left Rogers and her family stranded upstairs while the water rose up to five feet higher than her floorboards.

    “It’s really eerie when the rugs start lifting under your feet,” Rogers said.

    If all goes as planned, Rogers and five other Lewis County residents won’t have to endure such feelings again.

    The Lewis County Commission on Monday approved spending a $200,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology to elevate three homes in the Chehalis River Basin and three along the Cowlitz River.

    The grant is Lewis County’s share of a $1.4 million appropriation granted by the state Legislature earlier this year, and in Lewis County, it will be used to lift homes one foot above the flood of record.

    It’s not the first time the state or federal government has stepped in to assist residents in elevating their homes out of harm’s way. The Federal Emergency Management Agency operates a grant program, one that has been utilized by both Centralia and Chehalis in the past.

      Centralia is set to receive a $1.7 million grant from FEMA to elevate about 28 homes in the Hub City. That’s in addition to the 116 homes that have already been raised across the county, many through the FEMA grant process.

    Lewis County officials say the beauty of the Ecology grant, though, is that no local match is required. While FEMA’s program requires a 25 percent local match for raising homes — an act that costs upward of $35,000 — the Ecology grant has few strings attached.

    While the county’s deficit and lack of pre-disaster budget prevented it from pursuing the FEMA grant, Building Official Fred Chapman said the Ecology money requires few expenditures by the county and homeowners.

    “I think they’re very excited and very grateful,” Chapman said. “It’s an opportunity not to have a knot in your stomach every time the rain starts falling.”

    Boistfort Valley residents Aaron and Dollie Wilson are looking forward to the possibility of a flood damage-free existence after experiencing two major floods in the past 12 years.

    It took the couple and their three children nine months to move back into their home after the 2007 flood. Matters became worse financially when Aaron lost his job at Gootee Chevrolet in Chehalis.

    Chapman said that the financial situation and flood history of each property owner was taken into account when deciding which homes would be lifted through the state grant. He wishes there was more money to go around, and said that similar assistance from the state — without the requirement of matching funds from homeowners — would go a long way toward reducing the cost of repairing flood damage.

    Commissioner Ron Averill said it was “a drop in the bucket” that would pay dividends for those who are awarded the grant.

    Wilson knows that in the Chehalis River Basin there is always a chance that water could spill over its banks and through his property.

    “Hopefully I’ll be above it now,” he said.

    Eric Schwartz: (360) 807-8245