At least 252 residents and businesses along the Island Creek basin will finally get some flood protection starting in 2010 as nearly a mile of the stream will be widened to 80 feet.

The project, officially announced Friday morning at Logan Middle School by Gov. Joe Manchin, Congressman Nick Rahall, the Logan County Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the West Virginia Conservation Agency, will break ground in the summer of 2010 and will widen 3,600 feet of the Island Creek channel to an 80-foot bottom width to reduce the potential for flooding, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Dana Hurst.

"The main effort is the widening of Island Creek from the confluence, 3,600 feet upstream and that widening will bring the channel from its current state to 80 feet."

Hurst said the channel's current width is 30 feet to 70 in different areas.

"That will allow the water to move through that area and not be constrained, which causes it to jump out of the stream and cause much of the flooding," Hurst said.

Areas that are bottle-necked by bridges will be removed, Hurst said. He said the project is expected to be completed by 2012 "with efficient funding."

"The first two years, when we widen to 80 feet, there's a significant amount of real estate that needs to be purchased to be able to do that," Hurst said. "We have to work with the owners of the real estate, come to terms to purchase that real estate and then, once we have that, we'll be able to go into construction."

Hurst said the flooding in the Island Creek basin has been happening since the late 1980s. He said the project won't completely stop all flooding, but it will decrease its effects significantly.

"It'll take the 20-year (floods) in certain areas and totally eliminate those, while in other areas, even at the 20-year level there will still be some flooding, but, where it was 10 feet high previously, we'll see that down to maybe a foot. Every point on the ground is different, but it will significantly reduce that flooding impact. Will it cure the 100-year level if we get a 100-year storm? No. We're still going to see some severe flooding in Logan. But, for the minor, more frequent events that we would see, this will alleviate a lot of the problems and will provide flood damage reduction for 252 businesses and homes along Island Creek."

Gov. Manchin praised the project and the teamwork that helped usher it in.

"This is wonderful," Manchin said. "I grew up in a floodplain, so I know the heartache and inconveniences and how trying it is on people's lives. Every year during the rainy season, people expect flooding. This is going to be a chance now for them to live a more normal life and to prevent a lot of the flooding we've had historically over the years. We came down to start moving immediately during the last flood. I said 'Enough is enough' and I said we needed to do some things. I think that got the federal government and everyone saying 'We can work together and get this done quicker.' I'm just glad to see it come.

"I know (flooding) can be prevented and thank God we're at least getting it done now. All of us worked together from Congressman Rahall's involvement to working with Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin and them bringing it to my attention."

Congressman Rahall said the project has taken so long to put into place because of government budget cuts.

"The people deserve this. They've been patient and persistent over so many decades. The Corps of Engineers has done all it could do with limited funding and now that the funding has come through thanks to teamwork between Senator Robert C. Byrd, myself and Gov. Manchin this project is getting started," Rahall said. "It's long overdue and much needed to save lives. It's not only dredging, it's prevention through the flood warning system. It's the type of project that takes a long time, unfortunately, but they're going to work once they're in place."

Rahall said he saw the pain and suffering when he toured the flooded areas in April 2007 only hours after the flooding had hit Logan County.

"You can see it in the people's eyes that they are so tired of the misery and devastation, the mud and the cleanup that comes with flooding," Rahall said.

"They're just tired to the bone with what they've had to put up with and the constant threat is hanging over their heads every day. That's something that's not human and no individual should have to experience that constant misery and threat hanging over themselves and their family. We talk about homeland security and these people deserve homeland security right in their backyards and they've not been getting it."

Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll said the project is of utmost important to Logan County.

"If you do the math, you've got a county the size of Logan and you get nearly a $40 million project on prevention that will eventually save $200 million in damage, you tell me how important this is," Kirkendoll said. "Prevention is key. We've talked about this project for years and years. When we figured out how to do stream restoration, we started thinking about prevention. When we had the project with FEMA with buying out some of these homes that are repetitively flooded, we figured out real quick that if you take a home out at $40,000 to $50,000 you don't have to pay six times of an insurance premium. We're finding out and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Moss Burgess, who lives along the Island Creek basin and has suffered the effects of flooding, said he's glad to finally see the project get started.

"We've been working on this as a community for the last 20 years," Burgess said. "The flooding in 1996 was the worst we've ever had and then 2004's and last year's flood was just as bad. It's very important for us. They need to work on raising a couple of bridges. We've had a watershed group that has met for years and we would e-mail letters to Sen. Byrd, Sen. John D. Rockefeller and Congressman Rahall and the governor. We kept doing this for the last 20 years and we're tickled to death to finally get it.

"We met at a little church and I used to say to them 'We need to trust in the Lord' and a lot of people felt the same way. We feel this is the fruition and we're thankful for all of the people who helped us get this."

Burgess said flood protection is only one of the benefits of the stream project.

"It's a start," Burgess said. "We think it's going to make the creek so beautiful and it's going to help the city of Logan. The assets are unbelievable and we're tickled that something is finally getting started."

Kirkendoll praised the efforts of commissioners Willie Akers and Danny Godby for their persistence in keeping the project alive.

"They simply did not give up," Kirkendoll said.

The project will also include a flood warning system that will alert residents to rising waters along the confluence of Island Creek, Copperas Mine Fork and Mud Fork in Logan County.

Representatives from both Sen. Byrd's and Sen. Rockefeller's offices were on hand to read letters discussing the project.

Rockefeller's letter said "major flooding has hindered the county for years."

Byrd's letter, read by Madison native Mark Ferrell, said "There are few images in my memory that haunt me more than those of devastating floods that have hit West Virginia. Flashbacks of ravaged homes, businesses and farms and anguished faces, keep fresh in my mind that we need to do all that we can to find ways to better coexist safely and peaceably with nature's waterways and future torrential rain storms."

Both Byrd and Rockefeller sent their congratulations to Logan County and its residents for finally getting the flood relief project.