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South Kelso evacuation order lifted; rivers appear to have crested

Thursday, January 8, 2009 8:04 PM PST

By The Daily News

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Officials lifted an evacuation order for South Kelso on Thursday morning after workers, toiling overnight, sandbagged a boil on the Coweeman River levee.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials will examine local levees today to see how dikes are coping with high water, said Dave LaFave, Cowlitz 2 fire chief. It appeared that local rivers had crested this morning somewhat short of the levels the National Weather Service had forecast Wednesday.

A boil developed Wednesday in the Coweeman levee at the Brook Hollow Mobile Home Park, a 55-and-older facility at the east end of Kelso.

Commonly known as sand boils, the features are caused when pressure from high river level forces water through the levee. The water resurfaces on the landward side of the levee, forming a volcano-like cone of sand. Unchecked boils can lead to erosion of the core of the dike, resulting in a breach.

Wednesday night officials feared the Coweeman River would breach its dike and ordered all of South Kelso evacuated south of Allen Street. Officials had estimated Wednesday that there was a 50/50 chance the river would flood parts of Kelso.

The river crested early Wednesday morning, and the levee was holding, LaFave said.

“Things are looking good. We seem to be getting in the phase where things are stabilizing a bit,” LaFave said Thursday morning.

While the order was mandatory, not everyone complied. About two-thirds of the 3,000 South Kelso residents evacuated as ordered, estimated Larry Hembree, spokesman for the Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management.

The order was lifted at 9 a.m. Thursday.

However, the Grade Street bridge over the Coweeman River will remain closed while officials further assess it for structural damage that may have occurred due to the swollen river.

The status of the Woodland, Green Acres, Castle Rock, and Toutle areas have not changed at this time and are being continually re-evaluated by officials.

Additionally, West Side Highway is limited to one lane of traffic near McCorkle Creek as crews installed additional portable pumps and discharge lines that were laid across West Side Highway to relieve the unusually heavy amount of water.

Cowlitz County Public Works officials report that more than 20,000 sand bags and 60 cubic yards of sand were used by citizens in the county. Sand and bags are available for all Cowlitz County residents at the fairgrounds near the Washington Street entrance in Longview. The city of Longview shop on Oregon Way also has sand and bags available to Longview residents.

PH 10 bridge in Castle Rock was accessible in both directions late Thursday morning.

The Red Cross reports 110 people were sheltered in a variety of locations.

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Lucky7 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 9:19 AM:

" Better Safe Than Sorry! "

Rosey Glasses wrote on Jan 8, 2009 9:35 AM:

" my daughter just called and said they are releasing water from dams upstreem... I wonder if this is going to bring the rivers up again? Sis lives in south Kelso and was evacuated, but went home later last night... couldn't sleep in my son's house (it wasn't in her comfort zone I guess). I just hope that this all works out. I never trusted that Coweeman dike, when I moved out of Kelso to north of Castle Rock, I made sure my house was above the highest flood area of known flooding... thankful too, at least the family I have in the area have a safe place to go if they need it. Lets hope they don't... :D "

chinook dad wrote on Jan 8, 2009 9:57 AM:

" To all the people trapped up kalama river rd. Our hearts and prayers are with you, Stay safe! "

safetygirl wrote on Jan 8, 2009 9:59 AM:

" Any word on what's going on in Castle Rock? I live right next to the dike on 5th and I am at work so I am a little worried. Thanks for any info. "

old bag wrote on Jan 8, 2009 10:39 AM:

" Thank you Red Cross and volunteers! "

crguy wrote on Jan 8, 2009 10:55 AM:

" Green Acres did not flood. There is water over the West Side HWY between the High School and 4 Corners. "

kalama resident wrote on Jan 8, 2009 12:29 PM:

" Thank you to everyone out there trying to keep things safe. Every one of you are heroes. "

onemom wrote on Jan 8, 2009 1:10 PM:

" the people that refused to evacuate last night got lucky, yes. but if the dike had not held, who would have had to rescue them? evacuations need to be taken seriously. I believe people that get rescued from an area that was evacuated should be fined. but it was south kelso, maybe they didnt dare leave their "worldly posessions, paraphanalia" unattended. "

agreetodisagree wrote on Jan 8, 2009 1:25 PM:

" Thank you to all of the crews out there you are all wonderful including the local inmates that were making sandbags for people in need.They treated us very kindly & they were absolutely wonderful. I agree with Kalama resident, you are all heroes.
Thank you Thank you Thank you "

sokelsogranny wrote on Jan 8, 2009 2:44 PM:

" reply to onemom-I agree that evacuations should be taken seriously and there should be consequences. "but it was south kelso" How many people do you know in south kelso? I have lived here for 34 yrs. and I worked at Wallace school. I have met many more nice, caring people than people with "worldly possesions, paraphenalia". There are many, many nice well-kept homes here. I have friends in other parts of these two cities and every neighborhood has somebody or somebodies who lower the quality or safety of the neighborhood. It is not nice to judge everyone by the actions of some. "

Beer&Skittles wrote on Jan 8, 2009 3:02 PM:

" you know, onemom, while I don't live in South Kelso, I work throughout Clark, Cowlitz, Columbia, Wahkiakum and Lewis counties. There are some people who pitch on South, and North Kelso, saying it's "the worst". Got news for you! The only place I worry about going into is certain parts of the Highlands. NEVER, EVER have I had a problem with Kelso. There are really good people there...and everywhere for that matter. I'd tell you where to go, but TDN won't let me. "

kelso gringo wrote on Jan 8, 2009 3:20 PM:

" "onemom", Your statement about the people who live in south Kelso shows everyone that you are teaching your child to be bias toward certain individuals. Dont forget to teach her that all old people are senile, all overweight people are lazy slobs, and all priests are child molestors. "

sgourley2b wrote on Jan 8, 2009 4:04 PM:

" Onemom,
You should be ashamed of yourself. I lived in South Kelso for many years and it was and to the best of my knowledge, still a very nice area. I could read more into what you said, but am hoping it is just ignorance. I don't live on the Westside anymore, but have been very, very worried about my family there, some of whom happen to live in South Kelso!!!! Onemom, you owe an apology to South Kelso and you need to bite your tongue. "

kg wrote on Jan 8, 2009 4:29 PM:

" Maybe not all of the evacuees had a place to go too ... Luckily, the few people I knew who had to be evacuated had a home of a friend or relative in Longview to go to ... I'm sure not everyone had that opportunity or even the extra cash to stay in a hotel .... "

lilsue62 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 5:55 PM:

" Onemom does not sound like a good mom to me. I have lived in almost every area in Longview and Kelso. I will say that I chose to raise my two sons in south Kelso because of the people who live there. They for the most part caring and willing to step up and help out when its needed. When I lived in what we would call the rich part of town. Most of the people kept to themselves and really didn't care about their neighbors. I wanted my children to know how it felt to be someplace where the people were friendly and helpful. I am so glad I raised them in South Kelso. They turned out to be fine men who are willing to step up and help others when its needed. Maybe Onemom needs to see how she projects herself to her children. They may not like what they see. You know actions and words speak loud and clear to children. Remember that Onemom! "

pandagal wrote on Jan 8, 2009 6:27 PM:

" "onemom" Here our county is in a state of emergency. Many people in fear of loosing their homes and family memorabilia(sp) to the rising waters, and all you can do is pass judgment upon thousands of people that you have never even met??? Thankfully the dike did not fail us. If it had I would have been praying and doing whatever I could to help rescue those that chose to stay behind, instead of passing judgement or condemning them for their decision to stay behind. What is your address?? Hope you dont mind that if this happens again when those families have no where else to go and the shelters are filled to capacity they can sleep in your nice warm bed. Your way of thinking totally irritates me!!! "

ex longview resident wrote on Jan 8, 2009 8:06 PM:

" According to the article the shelters were not even close to capacity. The articles before said that the shelters were prepared to have up to 3000 people. So I do not believe that is an excuse. I don't think that the people that decide to ignore a mandatory evacuation should be rescued. They should have to stick it out like they planned. Some people are so ignorant!! "

BIGDAR wrote on Jan 9, 2009 9:02 AM:

" I was going to point out the obvious to onemom but it looks like she is already being informed. I grew up in south Kelso and while I have been gone from the area for many years, I still have family in Cowlitz county and that includes south Kelso. I was always proud to say I was raised in south Kelso. "

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