County declares a flood emergency
By Terry Murry on Friday, July 29th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
ECHO – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting Thursday to declare an emergency due to flooding that occurred on the Umatilla River May 29 through June 13. The county spent $400,000 to stop the river from encroaching on valuable farmland, cultural, historical, and residential areas.
“We’re hoping to get reimbursement from the state Legislature for the $400,000 that we gave to Echo for those purposes,” Chairman John Shafer said. “I’m not saying we will get it reimbursed, but we certainly won’t without this declaration in place.”
Shafer said the contractor did a good job shoring up the banks but that’s not a long-term solution.
“It was a Band-Aid for sure,” he said. “What we’re hoping to do is take that $400,000 and reinvest it to get more mitigation down the road to prevent it from happening again.”
