Nearly $20 million awarded for levee project in Grays Harbor County
Nov. 1—The City of Hoquiam has received $18.5 million in state funds to help fund the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project in Grays Harbor County.
The funding will help protect low-lying urban areas between the Wishkah and Hoquiam rivers, as major portions of both cities lie below sea level. Both rivers flow into the Chehalis River. When completed, the project will include 10.9 miles of earthen, concrete and sheet pile levees, which the Department of Ecology said will help protect 5,100 properties, 1,354 business and nearly 1,300 jobs, and guard local infrastructure.
The project includes the 6.2-mile North Shore Levee and the 4.7-mile North Shore Levee-West Segment, which will protect the city during storms, king tides, snow melt and other high-water events.
According to an updated timeline for the North Shore Levee Project, the levee is expected to be completed in 2029, though the work is dependent on the completion of a FEMA environmental review. Work on the North Shore Levee-West could begin late next year and is expected to be completed in two years, though it, too, is dependent on FEMA approval.
The state grant, approved by the Legislature, will match federal funding the city received to design, permit, and build the $160.5 million project.
In July, Aberdeen opened the $22 million Fry Creek pump station, which can pump up to 130,000 gallons of water per minute. The project was partially funded through the $12.3 million from the Chehalis Basin Board.
