Flooding News From Centralia

As an alumnus of Centralia Community College (out of boredom, we took a Latin class there one fall) and former southwest Washington resident, we've been following the flooding thataway with interest. A friend of ours just passed along two emails from K. in Centralia, and they can't be beat for a you-are-there feel that balances some of the apocalyptic news coverage -- let's face it, if nothing terrible happened to you, you aren't news. On December 3, K. was still in the thick of it:

The news shows downtown and the freeway and those are not in great shape but so far we're unaffected. I didn't go to the office today because [that area] is apparently flooded. [It] and the downtown are on China Creek and that floods pretty easily. The Skookumchuck River (in our backyard) is high but it hasn't even gone over the low bank and there's a ton of land to fill on that side before we're threatened. It sounds like there is a chance of hitting 1996 levels. In that flood there was a river running down our street but the river didn't go over our levy in the backyard and the house did not flood. The Chehalis (and I assume Skook) should be cresting tomorrow around 10:00 a.m. so we should hopefully hold out until then.

That cautious optimism was rewarded today. ("Flood levels are receding and our home is dry.") K.'s last paragraph, though, contains a take we haven't seen anywhere else:

Much of the problem began in this area when they allowed the Outlet Malls and then the Wal-Mart and Home Depot to be built and fill valuable flood plain with dirt. I doubt you'll hear that on the news but that is certainly my take and that of many others in the area. On the bright side, with downtown free from flooding and Wal-Mart underwater our local mom and pop shops will be filled with people that haven't been in them for years!