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The biggest flood protection project yet along the Green River will shield homes and businesses in the Kent-Auburn Valley in a flood disaster.

The work will fortify and raise the height of an existing levee and widen the river channel to contain flood waters.

Elected leaders gathered at Brannan Park in Auburn Tuesday to mark the occasion.

“The Kent-Auburn-Tukwila Valley is the second largest industrial center on the West Coast of the United States,” said Reagan Dunn, board member with the King County Flood Control District. “Billions of dollars in assets, a lot of jobs, a lot of people who live there.”

An earthen bank next to the Howard Hanson Dam failed in 2009, putting the valley at high risk of a flood disaster. The dam operated at limited capacity until repairs were completed in March 2011.

“Now what we’re doing is we’re moving downstream, working on the various levees along the Green River Valley to make sure that we are adequately protecting them for 100, even 500 year flood events,” said Dunn.

The Green River flows 93 miles from the Cascades to the Duwamish and Elliot Bay. The Howard Hanson Dam works as a flood control measure in the event of heavy rains and mountain snow melt. But it has limited capacity.

“In the case of a major flood event, and the dam has to release a huge amount of water so it doesn’t fail, the levees themselves will direct that water downstream below those homes and businesses and properties,” explained Dunn.

The Reddington Levee setback and extension project in Auburn will protect 321 homes and 275 commercial properties.

The flood protection measures are funded by a continuing property levy collected by the flood control district, which is a separate King County government agency. Dunn said the district has allocated $250 million toward flood protection measures, including $38 million in the Green River Valley this year.