Storm Slams North Idaho Snow, Freezing Rain Slicken Roads, Collapse Roof Of Cda Store

A new round of snow and ice battered the Idaho Panhandle on Sunday, hampering military aid in Boundary County and caving in the roof of a popular Coeur d’Alene clothing store.

The storm dumped 8 to 12 inches of snow between midnight Saturday and noon Sunday.

By early afternoon, the snow had turned to freezing rain that pelted drivers. Warm air from the south caused temperatures to jump as much as 20 degrees in an hour.

Across Kootenai County, police officers were stuck in driveways and forced off roadways to clean their windshield wipers.

Above Fernan Lake, sheriff’s deputies had to pilot snowmobiles to a remote forest cabin where two kids were trapped after a head-on collision had destroyed their machines. They suffered only minor injuries.

“When they all came out, their helmets and suits were caked with ice,” Kootenai County sheriff’s Lt. Skip Rapp said. “They looked like giant plastic men.”

In Post Falls, city workers struggled to clear streets with only three working plows. Mechanics hoped to have the remaining four fixed by this morning.

“Sleep? What’s that?” said Post Falls street supervisor Dick Franks.

Coeur d’Alene street supervisor Tim Klein had to cut his eight-person plowing team by one Sunday. A worker, Jerry Bass, needed time off to take care of the now-roofless Western wear store he owns along U.S. Highway 95 in the Sunset Mall shopping plaza.

The roof collapsed at Bass’ Western Wear - a store known for its signature mascot Wayne, a 24-foot cowboy statue - crushing cowboy boots and hats and covering merchandise with several feet of snow.

“I about cried when I saw it,” Bass said. “It was flat like a pancake.”

The roof fell without warning about 9 a.m., Bass said. He had been sleeping on a cot inside just eight hours earlier.

“I had two girls coming in to do some work this morning at 11 a.m.,” Bass said. “Thank God it happened when it did because it would have killed them.”

The collapse sent other businesses scurrying. A half-dozen people with shovels crowded atop neighboring Black Sheep sporting goods. The manager of a shopping mall across the street was shopping for a roof scraping bargain.

“Over the course of a week, the price went from $10 to $15 an hour,” manager Jim Franz said. “When it takes four guys a couple of days, you’re talking about real money.”

The storm’s heavy moisture content also brought down the roof of a house in Osburn and a bar in Wallace, the 1313 Club. Officials in two Shoshone County cities declared an emergency and are expected today to ask the governor for troops.

Boundary County remained hardest hit. There, 44 National Guard troops spent the day shoveling the roof of the hospital and other public buildings.

“Nothing seems to be going extremely well,” said county disaster coordinator Bob Graham. “Even city travel is getting hazardous. You can’t tell where the roads start or end and berms are so high you can’t see oncoming traffic.”

Graham’s request for additional National Guard help was delayed because troops couldn’t make it up from Boise. Landing gear on their aircraft had become covered with ice.

Even a state disaster coordinator abandoned plans to visit Bonners Ferry to assess the damage.

“I had to turn around and come back,” said Richard Wolfe, state Bureau of Disaster coordinator. “I couldn’t keep the slick stuff off my windshield.”

Finding volunteers for roof shoveling was so difficult, authorities waited outside area churches to ask congregation members for help.

“Everybody’s out getting grandma or the in-laws shoveled out,” Graham said.

Rooftop snow loads countywide are averaging 50 percent above capacity, and forecasters are calling for two more days of heavy rain.

Homeowners unable to take care of their own roofs are being put up in motels. Graham said the high school was being prepped in case shelter was needed today or Tuesday.

“If that rain comes as it’s supposed to, we could get even busier,” he said.

Temperatures already were on the rise across the region Sunday night.

By 8:30 p.m., Kellogg was reporting 42 degrees, turning snow and ice to standing water.

“Everybody seems real comfortable with the fact that the powder snow can absorb the rain,” said Kellogg resident Sandy Scott. “Things are holding well. The rivers haven’t even moved.”

Shoshone County officials were trying to get dump trucks later this week to move giant snow mounds away from river and streambanks, said Scott, the wife of Bill Scott, the county disaster coordinator.

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