Town’s Dike Springs Leak Ruptures Could Have Caused Blowout, But Fast Action Saves Cusick From Disaster

Cusick residents had a close call Sunday morning when the dike holding back the swollen Pend Oreille River sprang a leak, but a hasty patch was in place by late afternoon.

Mayor Paul Haas said farmer Terry Driver spotted the leak about 8:30 a.m. during his regular check of the portion of the dike that keeps Pend Oreille River water from backing up into the Calispell River.

“I ran right uptown and got these guys,” Haas said, pointing to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials who were supervising emergency repairs.

The federal engineers had just finished building a berm along Monumental Road to hold back water in case the dike failed. They were about to leave when Haas reached them.

“This is the last thing I expected to see,” said Haas, who might be forgiven if he felt like a Dutch boy without enough thumbs.

Haas said he had “a good level of comfort” Saturday when the 4-foot berm was constructed and a weak spot in the dike was reinforced.

Then the leak sprang.

With the Pend Oreille at least 5 feet higher than the Calispell, a rupture in the dike could have flooded part of the town of 244 people.

Although relatively small, the leak was steadily increasing in volume. There appeared to be a couple of fist-sized flows in a 5-foot span.

Larry Fragomeli, an Army Corps structural engineer, said the seepage posed no immediate threat but could have weakened the dike and caused a “blowout.” To prevent that, he directed construction of a “seepage berm” with about 200 cubic yards of rocks on the inner side of the dike.

The purpose was more to withstand pressure that might cause the dike to collapse than to stop the leak, Fragomeli said.

The work was being done by numerous volunteers.

“This guy, he gave me his whole crew at no charge,” Haas said, pointing to a contractor who was dumping a load of rock for the dike repair.

The Pend Oreille Valley Railroad sent a train-mounted clamshell crane, and bulldozers and drivers popped up whenever they were needed.

Don’t worry, Haas reassured Fragomeli, the kid driving that dozer can thread a needle with it, and the owner won’t mind.

Elsewhere in Cusick, sandbagging continued at the Pend Oreille Grocery, where at least a couple of couch-laden pickups passed by on state Highway 20. Dozens of people turned out to inspect the new berm on Monumental Road and walk along its hard-packed surface for a better view of the river.

About six miles south, near Dalkena, Leonard Higgins was assessing the damage caused by 3 feet of water in the basement of the house he rents to Ginger Hughes and her three children.

Before the flood, Higgins had been working on a new garage roof to replace the one that collapsed in last November’s ice storm.

Nearby, Ted and Connie Shrum built a solid fortress of sandbags around their 2-year-old riverfront home but were defeated by a sophisticated runoff drain field and underground pipes designed to divert radon gas.

The sandbags held back about 2 feet of water, but about 4 inches of water entered the basement through perforated underground pipes.

“You’ve got to keep a sense of humor, I guess,” Ted Shrum said.

A few miles away on Yergens Road, several more basements were flooded and the bank caved away to the footings of a shop building.

County Emergency Services Director JoAnn Boggs said she expected flooding Sunday in the River Bend subdivision, about 12 miles north of Usk, where one end of the loop access road was submerged.

Two other county roads also were closed because they were covered by water at least a foot deep.

They are Calcoma Road, north of Cusick near Tacoma Creek, and Davis Road, about four miles south of Usk.

The flow into Lake Pend Oreille, source of the Pend Oreille River, was expected to peak Sunday evening at about 156,000 cubic feet per second, according to Carl Wert, operator of the wide-open Albeni Falls Dam on the river just upstream from Newport.

Wert cautioned, though, that the river may continue to rise for several more days as the lake drains. As more snow melts in Montana, a second peak is expected in two or three weeks.

Boggs said the river is expected to rise 3-1/2 more feet by Tuesday.

Already Sunday, it was almost 2 feet higher than last year’s peak, which caused minor flooding in about two dozen homes.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FORECAST The flow into Lake Pend Oreille, source of the Pend Oreille River, was expected to peak Sunday evening, but the river may continue to rise for several more days as the lake drains. As more snow melts in Montana, a second peak is expected in two or three weeks.