Posted on May 30, 2016
By Theron Zahn, KOMONews.com
The Cedar River looked calm and peaceful Thursday morning, but just below the surface of the water, something is lurking that could put the people who live and work around here in harm’s way.
The city of Renton is warning that massive floods similar to what was seen in 1990 could happen again if sediment that has built up over the years is not dredged out of the river.
“We had a significant amount of flooding that happens in a big storm if the river bottom elevation is allowed to rise,” said Gregg Zimmerman with the City of Renton.
That’s why starting next month, heavy equipment will be right in the river digging away. They need to pull out 120,000 cubic yards of gravel and silt in a 1.25 mile stretch of the Cedar River where it dumps into Lake Washington.
They’ll hurry as they only have about a 6 week window to get the work done in between important fish runs.
The dredging will begin on June 15 and run through the end of August at a cost of about $7.5 million — paid for by the King County Flood Control District.
Source: KOMONews.com
