Region Floods; What’s Next? Sheriff Declares State Of Emergency

Spokane County residents began the New Year under a state of emergency as streams choked with rainwater and melting snow overflowed their banks Wednesday.

The city of Rockford was inundated with 4 feet of water, and a Spangle woman was hurt trying to rescue her children from a fast-flowing stream. In southwest Spokane, homes were in danger of being overrun by a surging Latah Creek.

Sheriff John Goldman - who said the flooding is comparable to the high water that devastated the region last February - declared the state of emergency about 3:30 p.m..

The declaration made the county eligible for help from state agencies and put local police and fire crews on alert.

“The flooding that has developed over the past 48 hours has threatened lives and considerable property,” Goldman said. “Bridges, roads and people’s homes are being threatened.”

Water began rising across the county after last month’s record snowfall began melting in the 40-degree temperatures and heavy rains that passed over the region.

“We’ve got absolutely the worse conditions that we can have,” said Dennis Scott, county public works director. “We’ve got a lot more water than we can deal with.”

The forecast calls for more rain and warm temperatures today.

“We’re concerned that conditions may be deteriorating instead of getting better,” Goldman said. “The next 24 hours should tell.”

The weather created problems throughout Eastern Washington.

Roads across the region were closed because of flooding, including parts of U.S. 12 in Columbia County and state Highway 27 between Spokane and Pullman.

“It’s a lot of mud and water and yuck,” said a sheriff’s dispatcher in Whitman County, where Highway 27 was blocked by water in at least three places.

There was good news. The state Department of Transportation opened White, Snoqualmie and Stevens passes over the Cascades. Some drivers have been stuck for days waiting for the passes to open.

In the Hangman Valley in south Spokane County, sheriff’s deputies used a boat to rescue a telephone repairman from the top of his truck’s roof after he tried to drive across a road flooded by Latah Creek.

The stream crested at about 14 feet late Wednesday, but authorities feared ice or debris jams could cause further flooding late Wednesday night or today.

The creek flooded some buildings in the Vinegar Flats area of Spokane on Wednesday, said Bill Pupo, city manager. City street crews patrolled bridges to keep them clear of debris, he said.

Pupo warned residents in the Shawnee and Woodridge areas of Indian Trail on the city’s northwest side to stay alert for high water and to clean out neighborhood storm drains.

Residents along the Little Spokane River also were warned of possible flooding.

Authorities also urged residents to stay away from river and creek banks, which are unstable and slick.

Near Spangle, a 38-year-old woman suffered hypothermia about noon Wednesday after falling into a fast-flowing seasonal creek near her home.

Robin Branch was trying to pull three of her five children out of the stream when she slipped into it, firefighters said.

The children - who are between the ages of 8 and 12 - were playing near the water when they fell in, firefighters said.

The children got out but Branch was trapped by the strong current, said Bill Dennstaedt of Spokane County Fire District 3. One of the kids ran home and called 911.

“She actually was totally submerged and was stuck there for a while before we got her out,” said Dennstaedt, who estimated Branch was in the icy water for nearly 15 minutes.

She was taken by helicopter to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

None of the children required medical attention, Dennstaedt said.

In North Idaho’s Shoshone County, water sloshed into basements and inched up the sides of mobile homes. Flooding washed out roads and left volunteers struggling to divert floodwater from homes.

The city of Kellogg declared a state of emergency Wednesday morning because of the excessive runoff.

The weather created problems throughout the Panhandle Wednesday. Runoff from the mountains flooded the Ponderosa Golf Course in Coeur d’Alene and filled home basements with water in the French Gulch area.

While the Coeur d’Alene River remained at a safe level, bursting streams and mountain runoff flooded Pinehurst, Kellogg, Kingston, Silverton and Smelterville.

“Several of the streams that run off the mountains have undercut roads and gone into the basement of several houses,” said Bill Scott, disaster coordinator for Shoshone County. About nine Kellogg homes were cut off after a stream washed out the road to their neighborhood, he said.

Rain and runoff wasn’t the only problem. Heavy snow collapsed at least one mobile home in Boundary County Wednesday.

The Army National Guard continued to remove snow from the roofs of public buildings in Bonner and Boundary counties.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: Who to call Sandbags are available today from Justus Bag Co., 11205 E. Trent in Spokane. Citizens can call the county Department of Emergency Management at 456-4734 for updated flood information.