MOUNT VERNON — If locals learned anything at a Monday presentation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it’s that there will be no easy solutions to the Skagit Valley’s flood problems.
About 80 community leaders and interested residents packed a meeting room at Skagit Public Utility District headquarters to hear the first substantive discussion by the corps of what flood-control projects may or may not work for the Skagit River.
The presentation detailed 38 proposed measures, from Ross Lake to Fir Island. Where possible, presenter and corps Planning Chief Linda Smith offered crude cost-benefit analyses of the proposals.
N o c l e a r- c u t w i n n e r s emerged.
“Levees, ring dikes, (levee) setbacks, bypasses all have a lot of possibilities — maybe (additional storage behind) Upper Baker Dam,” Smith said in an interview after her 90-minute presentation.
But each is saddled with limitations. Making extra room for storage of floodwaters behind the Upper Baker Dam and halting flow through the dam would keep less than 5 percent of the water out of a major flood.
