Toledo Escapes Cowlitz River Flooding

While the Cowlitz east of Mossyrock swelled to moderate and major flood stage late this week, Toledo largely escaped the minor flooding predicted by the National Weather Service. 

The Cowlitz below Mayfield dam rose to just below flood stage Thursday due to the Mayfield Dam opening its spillways after predicted flooding upstream. 

The city of Toledo is situated along the banks of the Cowlitz, and on Thursday morning, Mayor Steve Dobosh said the city was keeping a close eye on the river and had sandbags ready at the fire station. The city had cameras set up to monitor the river so that the city can watch the water level in various locations on TVs in city hall. As of Friday morning, the city of Toledo said they were not experiencing any flooding. 

Andy Caldwell, deputy emergency management director for Lewis County, said the because of the water release at the Mayfield Dam Toledo is now not expected to experience flooding. 

“What Toledo is actually controlled by (is) how much the Mayfield Dam is actually letting out. Unless the Mayfield notifies us of an increase the levels should stay the same going through Toledo,” Caldwell said.

Michelle Whitten, Toledo city clerk, said that the first place they see flooding is at the city park and the people on the banks are usually fine.

John Cravens with Toledo Public Works said that he isn’t too worried about flooding in the city because of the speed the water is flowing.

“We won’t know until the full level comes down from the releases but obviously it might come up a little more but to what extent we won’t know until it happens but it’s flowing good and it’s getting out… I think it should probably pass through,” Cravens said.

The Mayfield Dam located in Mossyrock is a 250-foot high, 850-foot long concrete arch and gravity dam. Witten said that it is her understanding that the Mayfield Dam is releasing 25,000 cubic feet of water per second.