Oregon Lawmakers Strongly Support Flood Study for Portland

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader yesterday strongly urged federal officials to support a flood protection feasibility study for Portland.

The Oregon lawmakers said that their request comes as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raised concerns about the prospects for a Portland flood.

The lawmakers asked that the Portland Metropolitan Flood Protection Project General Investigations Feasibility Study be included in the Army Corps’ work plan for the 2018 fiscal year.

Their letter notes that the area now protected by the Corps-designed and built 27-mile levee system was the site in 1948 of a catastrophic levee breach that killed 15 people and permanently displaced the entire Vanport community.

“Now, an impressive coalition in the nearby community is actively working to ensure that risks are minimized and that history does not repeat itself along the second biggest river in the nation,” they wrote in the letter.

“Since the Vanport flood this system has performed well. However, the levees are showing significant signs of structural vulnerabilities during recent high water events including sloughing, boils and seepage.”