Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The town of Oakesdale has begun the process to improve a floodwater situation on Steptoe Street and other outlying areas.
At a preliminary meeting Oct. 8 at city hall Mayor Dennis Palmer, Public Works Director Bob Hooper and City Councilman Tom Crooks met with Stillman Norton, a Project Manager/Engineer with Keller Associates, one of two engineering firms on the town’s roster.
The main flooding areas are off of Oakesdale Road – at which point water runs over private property – and at Second Street by the Oakesdale school, where it spreads into downtown.
As happened twice last year, rain on frozen ground led to an overflowing culvert on Second Street.
“The water is flowing to downtown and it doesn’t really have a place to go,” Norton said.
He suggested that the first thing to try would be inexpensive – to build a series of check dams out of rock piles in a drainage swale where Oakesdale Road meets Rednor Street, placed every 50 or 100 feet.
“It creates little mini retention ponds,” he said. “That would alleviate the issue but probably not eliminate it entirely. However, these are just preliminary thoughts without any specific study.”
The swale at Oakesdale Road is a culprit for channeling floodwater to downtown.
Check dams, which require permits from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), could also be built where McCoy Creek backs up at Idaho Street and Highway 27, where private property has been flooded.
Another option may be to use available private property to convert into a retention pond, which would also require FEMA approval.
“Hopefully with a combination of those items, it would help,” Norton said.
The flooding area at the southeast end of town is particularly problematic.
“If severe flooding were to continue there, it could cause damage to the highway,” said Norton.
At issue there is a train-bridge over McCoy Creek, at the south side of Highway 27, which has a small culvert.
“Right now I have a bird’s eye view of the issues,” Norton said. “We haven’t gotten any further.”
Also at the Oct. 8 meeting, Norton, Crooks, Hooper and Palmer talked about what the town may be able to get as far as grants from the Washington State Department of Ecology Stormwater Funding program – which requires a 25 percent match.
Palmer and Crooks indicated that the city couldn’t afford any match.
If the city does get a grant or finds other funding and elects to go forward on this, the first move would be to hire an engineering firm to do a full planning study, which would be required by D.O.E. for any grant. From there, the engineer would model the area, identify the issues and make recommendations.
Another funding option is for Oakesdale to establish a stormwater utility, which builds capital by charging residents a small fee per month, such as $4.
Concluding the meeting, the Oakesdale representatives ultimately asked Norton to look into other funding options, since the town could not honor a D.O.E. matching grant.
“So far, that has come up dry,” Norton said.
Crooks has an insurance office on First Street which flooded this spring for the first time in the 34 years he’s been in business there.
All told, the meeting with Norton was the first of what may be many.
“When you’re talking about flooding, you have to meet with a lot of people,” said Crooks. “We’re just up at the plate, but we haven’t got a hit yet. Right now we’re at the preliminary stage. We’ll see what our options are and what we can afford.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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