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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Awash In Questionable Behavior, Too

Eric Skidmore Special To Roundtable

It’s amazing how people flock to the scene of accidents and disasters. Rarely do they consider the danger they place themselves in or the danger their presence imposes on personnel tending to the event.

Common also is the tendency of those bystanders, as well as coffee shop and tavern experts, to criticize public agencies responding to the crisis.

Kootenai County Disaster Services does its job with only two full-time staff members, a half-time staff member and extensive use of volunteers. Keeping this in mind, let’s look at the recent flooding.

The trigger of events was the ice dam in the Coeur d’Alene River east of Cataldo. With the warming weather and rain, the river level continued to rise and the ice continued to accumulate.

A meeting was called in Cataldo to inform residents of the potential danger so they could make evacuation plans. When the ice dam broke, there was understandable panic. Had it not been for the ice breaking up when it hit the bridge at Bumblebee, the outcome could have been quite different than just the appearance of scattered ice floating past Cataldo.

Much criticism has been leveled at the accuracy of the water level predictions by KCDS. Weather and water level updates were regularly requested from the National Weather Service, as were measurements and estimates from local experts. No one was able to forecast the effects of the warm temperatures and record-setting rain on the river levels.

Many residents were old timers. It’s amazing they still have no concept of the hazards of building on a flood plain. Relying on a dike to protect your property when it has failed repeatedly to keep the water out seems a little naive.

Had the National Guard not been activated “too early,” its people would not have been available to assist with sandbagging and evacuation efforts. It takes 12 to 24 hours for the National Guard to respond after the governor declares a state of emergency.

Criticism has been leveled at KCDS for not spending time updating the media and giving the media full access to the scene. What about the 50 or so EBS broadcasts, safety advisories and press releases that were generated?

All of these criticisms skirt the issue that we were faced with an act of God that none of us could have fully foreseen or predicted.

Why don’t we look around at what really happened and thank God it wasn’t worse?

We didn’t have a single fatality. We saved more property from damage this time than in 1974. Federal and state aid is available.

Let’s look at the efforts of all the people to save the lives and property of those most of them didn’t even know and be thankful that they were there.

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