Today’s Chronicle tells the story of Bethel Church in Napavine’s outreach to members of the Chehalis Avenue Apartments (page 2), some of whom are just returning to their first-floor apartments after being flooded out back in January.

    To some living out of the flood zone, it must seem improbable that people are just returning to their homes. The floods, however, do extensive damage that often is never repaired and lives never fully restored. That is why this newspaper’s Editorial Board has made basinwide flood mitigation its top priority.

    On Tuesday night we believe an important meeting is taking place that will go a long way toward basinwide solutions. At 6 p.m. at Centralia City Hall, members of the Twin Cities’ councils, and officials from the governor’s office and the state department of transportation gather to hear an update by the U.S. Army Corps on its progress on the design of 11 miles of levees.

    We urge our local leaders to stay firm in pressing for taking a deep look at more than the levees. Water retention in the upper reaches of the Chehalis River, we believe, needs to be fully examined, specifically the possibility of a combination of levees and earthen dams.

    Too much is at stake to let such an opportunity pass. Just ask those who are finally back in their apartments seven months after the rains came.

We Can’t Get Complacent About Swine Flu

By The News Tribune, Tacoma

    The world made it through round one of the swine flu pandemic relatively well, with the H1N1 virus contributing to the deaths of fewer than 500 in this country.

    Sadly, that toll includes a young Puyallup mother, Katie Flyte, who lost her seven-week battle with the disease last week.

     Her baby girl had to be delivered while she was in a drug-induced coma.

    It’s very possible that the next wave of the swine flu, which is expected to hit this fall, could be deadlier if not enough precautions are taken and not enough people get immunized against it.    

    Employers should show flexibility by allowing workers time off if they are sick or need to care for a sick child.

    We may dodge the bullet again and the swine flu virus won’t mutate into something even more dangerous than it already is.

    But complacency isn’t an option. It shouldn’t take the deaths of more young people like Katie Flyte to tell us that the H1N1 is not to be taken lightly.