In my early life growing up in Chehalis, we lived on Prindle Street where it flooded every few years. But in all those years water never rose high enough to flood our home.

I remember water gushing under our house leaving all manner of debris after the flood waters subsided. My sister Sarah put on hip boots and carried me through the water to high ground so that I could walk to school. My little friend Percy would begin building a raft and then would come by for me and we would raft up and down our flooded street. We could see rats swimming to flee from the flooded dump.

Soon the mail carrier would come by delivering the mail by rowboat. But I never remember my mother getting upset. All I remember was the excitement of the waters rising and wondering if this year it would come into our house. This was probably the most exciting time in my life growing up.

Oh, there was a little excitement when the next door neighbor's father came down the street drunk and walked into our house thinking he was home. We never locked our doors and so we let him come in and sit down until one of us could go next door and inform his daughters to come and get him. This time she said, "We are entertaining guests. Could you keep him for the rest of the evening?" Even though my mother was a staunch member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union she watched over this man until his daughters came to collect him.

I was given a miniature WCTU pin if I would pledge not to drink any form of alcohol. I have kept this pledge to this day. I must admit that I learned by taking a drink from the wrong glass at a party that I am allergic to wine so it wasn't difficult for me to abstain. My fruit cake wrapped in cloth steeped in apricot brandy doesn't count.

Years ago the flatland between Centralia and Chehalis became the center for shopping when the army surplus store opened followed by many other shops and places to eat. You can imagine what this area went through with the highest water ever experienced in Chehalis has descended upon my hometown. The government checks that were being promised were not available until at least two weeks after the flooding so volunteer efforts were organized to house evacuees until they could get on their feet again.

What Chehalis is going through is a duplication of the devastation all over the globe now being linked to global warming and over development. We are once again learning what the timber barons learned in days gone by-that our earth cannot be used up or decimated if humans are to be sustained as inhabitants. The pictures of the Chehalis flooding will add to the proof that has taken so long to accumulate, making a stronger case for turning back the destruction of our planet that we call home.

Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer and speaker who can be reached at gnkunkel@comcast.net or 935-8663.