Locals prepared to attend a public meeting this week on a flood-related project, but that meeting was canceled because of, you guessed it, flooding.
The Washington state Department of Ecology announced on Tuesday morning that a meeting scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. that evening on the Centralia College campus would be canceled. The college campus announced early in the morning that it would close both its Centralia campus and its East Lewis County campus in Morton.
The cancellation could be considered equal parts ironic and validating for those working on flooding issues. The meeting was meant to discuss a recent environmental impact statement study on a proposed flow-through dam that, if approved, would be constructed on the Chehalis River near Pe Ell.
“Unfortunately, due to severe weather, Ecology is canceling tonight’s (Dec. 9) in-person public meeting at Centralia College for the Chehalis River Basin Flood Damage Reduction project draft environmental impact statement (EIS),” reads the statement. “The college has closed the campus due to flooding concerns.”
A meeting on a project designed to address flooding being canceled by flooding may just be the latest example of why the work is still needed.
The evening meeting was expected to begin an information session at 6 p.m. with time after for official public comment before concluding at 8 p.m. However, the meeting is now canceled and the department has not signaled if the meeting will be rescheduled.
A second meeting at the same time and location and on the same subject is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 6, and an online version of the public meeting is scheduled for later this week Thursday, Dec. 11. For more information on how to participate in the online meeting later this week, visit https://tinyurl.com/yf52j393.
The department also plans to have an additional in-person meeting in Aberdeen on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and a second online meeting on Thursday, Jan. 8.
