Get Flood Damage Reports To County, Residents Asked

With the Pend Oreille River slowly receding, county officials want flood victims to start reporting their losses so the county can build a case for federal assistance.

Gov. Gary Locke declared a state of emergency on May 22, but assistance so far has been directed toward government agencies. A federal declaration could bring financial assistance to individual property owners and businesses.

The river crested Friday at an elevation of 2,049.9 feet in Cusick, about 2 feet below the top of the dike protecting the town. The level was down one-tenth of an inch Monday.

Lake Pend Oreille, source of the river, also crested Friday - at 2,065.74 feet. The level had dropped only to 2,065.54 feet by Monday, but the river flow at Albeni Falls Dam near Newport was down to 136,400 cubic feet per second Monday, from Friday and Saturday’s peak of 138,200 cfs.

“That’s likely to have been the seasonal peak,” dam manager Bob Schloss said. “I don’t think we’re going to get anything bigger than that now.”

However, Schloss warned that the river is likely to recede slowly and remain high through most of June. “We still have a lot of water to get through here yet.”

Schloss said experts now believe this year’s runoff will be a record, at least 170 percent of average for the Pend Oreille basin. The 24.4 million acre-foot total will eclipse the previous high runoff years of 1948, 1972 and 1974, but the 1948 flood was more damaging because the snowpack melted faster.

, DataTimes MEMO: To report flood damage, Pend Oreille County residents should call (509) 447-3731 between by June 19, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Emergency information may be obtained by calling Rob Harper or Mark Clemens at the Washington Emergency Management Division, (360) 438-7737, or by calling JoAnn Boggs, county emergency services director, at (509) 447-3731.