When the Chehalis River and its tributaries flood, the entire valley risks damage, distress and death. Hundreds of homes and businesses are endangered. Our entire community suffers when floods hit.
Unfortunately, state and federal money to help solve the flooding will be linked not to that widespread human suffering, but will be devoted simply to protecting one big physical asset: Interstate 5.
If and when I-5 is protected from flooding, that will be the end of major flood-control efforts in the Chehalis Valley. Period. There will be no second chance for us.
Certainly protecting I-5, a crucial north-south corridor for the entire West Coast, is important, but protecting I-5 alone would be a tragedy for the people and environment of the entire Chehalis valley.
What we need is a basinwide solution that reduces flooding from the headwaters of the Chehalis and all the way downstream.
The Legislature in 2011 agreed to continue funding the Chehalis River Flood Authority, but attached several conditions. One is that the Washington State Department of Transportation study alternatives to protect the freeway.
WSDOT has done so, but officials with that agency are in the unenviable position of studying projects that they do not support. One of those projects is a set of walls built along I-5 through the Twin Cities to protect against high water.
These walls are unworkable, expensive and do nothing to protect the surrounding areas.
Thankfully, our congressional representative knows that this proposal is the wrong solution to a huge problem.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler spoke out last week in Congress against flood walls, exacting a pledge from a key House leader to address the issue in a conference committee on a major transportation appropriation bill.
Herrera Beutler made an apt comparison as she described the situation in Lewis County.
“When flooding hits the Chehalis River basin, it’s like having an invader that comes to destroy the homes and businesses here,” Herrera Beutler said. “This proposal would be like building a castle wall around I-5 that only protects a road while leaving citizens totally vulnerable to the invading floods. I can’t allow a plan that only protects valuable government property while leaving residents’ lives, properties, and livelihoods vulnerable. If the entire federal investment is spent on the I-5 wall, it greatly diminishes the resources left to help protect families and communities.”
The only true basinwide solution is a water retention project in the headwaters. Such a project would lower water levels throughout the basin, protecting Interstate 5 and the surrounding communities.
Rather than the medieval solution of building a castle wall around I-5, let’s prevent the invader from even entering our beautiful valley.
