Work Complete On Project To Ease Flooding In Wenatchee Foothills
Construction is complete on debris basins in the No. 1 Canyon in the foothills west of Wenatchee.
Work on the second of two debris basins was recently completed with the help of a nearly $1 million grant from FEMA.
The project allows sediment, woody debris and rocks from heavy rainfall to be deposited into the basins and overflow channels before it can cause damage further downstream to homes and property.
Both No. 1 and No. 2 Canyon Roads were closed for a week last fall to let crews clean up debris after a heavy storm brought flooding last summer.
A consultant for the Chelan County Flood Control Zone District designed the four new basins, which were built on 21 acres at the western end of No. 1 Canyon Road.
They complement a series of detention basins that were built lower down the canyon in 2015.
Over the last several years, those much smaller basins have been effective in decreasing the amount of sediment entering the City of Wenatchee's storm water system, with the sediment being replaced with an increase in the volume of water.