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Last December, in the High Valley neighborhood outside Packwood, residents spent the night stacking sandbags and watching the Cowlitz River chew away at the bank behind their homes. A few miles away in Randle, parts of U.S. Highway 12 were under water, isolating the community as the river crested above flood stage.
Emergency crews would eventually rebuild sections of the High Valley riverbank to protect houses from collapsing, and swift water rescue teams worked tirelessly for days to save more than 60 people throughout the course of the flood.
We should be grateful for the heroic work those people did to help save lives and property alike. But as this past weekend of additional flooding showed, it’s clear that disaster response is only one part of keeping us safe from increasingly rising waters.
For many East County residents, the question isn’t whether the river will rise again, it’s whether anything will be different the next time. Because while the Chehalis Valley has spent more than a decade strategizing and improving flood mitigation along Interstate 5 and to the west, the communities along the upper Cowlitz River still don’t have a comparable gameplan.
After the devastating floods of 2007 and 2009, the state helped establish the Chehalis Basin Strategy, a long-term effort to reduce damage while protecting salmon habitat. The program includes a basin board, extensive environmental studies and more than 100 completed projects so far, ranging from home elevations to improved warning systems.
The strategy is still controversial, especially the proposal for a flow-through dam near Pe Ell. But whether people support the dam or the “Local Actions Non-Dam Alternative,” one thing is undeniable: the Chehalis Basin has coordinated momentum backed by the state.
The Cowlitz Basin does not.
Communities that sit along the upper Cowlitz interact with a completely different watershed that flows south toward the Columbia. They are upstream of the Mossyrock and Mayfield dams, which means those facilities provide little protection when heavy rain falls in the Cascades.
The truth is that flooding in East Lewis County is largely treated as a disaster management issue rather than a planning challenge. There is no Cowlitz Basin Flood Authority, no state-funded basin strategy comparable to the Chehalis program, and no comprehensive study of long-term mitigation options for the upper valley.
The Cowlitz River Basin Flood Control Zone District completed Packwood floodplain remapping a few years ago, but it seems like it’s been otherwise inactive since early 2023. The new maps they released are important for telling us where the water goes, but they don’t stop it from getting there in the first place.
An active flood control zone board is typically in charge of planning, funding, constructing and maintaining flood protection infrastructure like dikes, levees and pumps. They manage flood risks to protect property, infrastructure and the environment, often by approving budgets and directing taxes.
In the absence of one, responsible flood plain management can become difficult. For instance, Packwood and the surrounding communities are experiencing a building boom with more homes being constructed near the river at the same time that extreme rain events are becoming more frequent. Without ongoing monitoring and mitigation efforts, it’s hard to predict the risk level for surrounding communities as water is diverted in unexpected ways.
Fortunately, we don’t have to start these efforts from scratch. The last decade of work on the Chehalis Basin Strategy has given us a blueprint for how regional flood planning can work.
First, Lewis County should establish a formal working group focused on flooding in the upper Cowlitz Basin. We know that long-term planning requires dedicated institutions to coordinate local governments, state agencies, and tribal nations with treaty interests, alongside community stakeholders. Gathering them is step one.
Second, the state should fund a feasibility study to evaluate options such as floodplain restoration, home elevation programs, and strategic land acquisitions. The more we know about the geology and behavior of the river system, the easier it will be to set up guidelines and strategies to work within.
Third, land-use policy must be part of the conversation. Floodplains absorb excess water during and after flood events and once they are developed upon, it’s nearly impossible to fully restore their protective function. That doesn’t mean imposing onerous restrictions on landowners. Instead, it means intentional local zoning decisions should play a critical role in managing future flood risk.
None of these ideas are quick fixes, but they represent the same kind of long-term thinking that we’ve already used to transform river planning near Chehalis.
To the south in Cowlitz County, the Spirit Lake/Toutle-Cowlitz River Collaborative and others have already explored addressing the lower half of the river. Lewis County has had little presence in that group even though we sit at the river’s headwaters. If we’re not part of the planning happening downstream, we’re leaving money, mitigation, and safety on the table.
While flooding along the upper Cowlitz is not a new problem, the scale of recent storms suggests it is becoming a bigger one. And while the efforts from first responders and locals during disasters are nothing short of heroic, heroism is not the foundation of good flood policy.
The people stacking sandbags in High Valley last December shouldn’t have to wonder if the same scene will repeat next winter, and the winter after that. But those residents in our eastern basin have largely been left to manage floods as they come.
It’s time for Lewis County and the State of Washington to move beyond reactive disaster response and invest in a dedicated, collaborative strategy for the upper Cowlitz.
By establishing a working group, funding critical studies, and aligning development with resilient land-use policies, we can provide the long-term protection and peace of mind that East County communities urgently need and rightfully deserve.
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Zac Eckstein is a Lewis County resident who serves as chair of the Lewis County Democrats.
