FEMA grant will fund McKay Creek study
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is giving the task force working on McKay Creek in Pendleton a $300,000 grant for a basin analysis. Mayor John Turner says that’s a vital first step in future flood prevention.
“Before you can do anything, you have to do a basin analysis before FEMA, EPA, and anybody else will help you,” Turner said.
Thirty years ago, McKay Creek was declared a critical fish habitat. Before that time, Turner said workers would clear the creek of sediment and debris annually. Now, much more is involved, and the mayor hopes the basin analysis will help get the McKay Creek work group closer to its ultimate goal.
“We would like to armor the banks of McKay Creek so that it doesn’t erode,” Turner said. “Every time we have a high-water event, it erodes silt and rock into the bottom of it.”
In 2019, McKay Creek flooded, damaging 63 homes. City Manager Robb Corbett said that the study will look at how the entire basin works and identify solutions to reduce that risk. Those solutions include better snowpack monitoring equipment, deepening the reservoir, or changing the way the dam operates to provide more flood storage.
File photo of McKay Creek flood.
