Rising Waters Force Evacuations Flood Warnings In Effect Throughout Region

Rain and melting snow swelled rivers across Eastern Washington and North Idaho on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate homes and businesses.

In North Idaho, many of Cataldo’s 200 residents were evacuated to an emergency shelter or took refuge with friends after a bulging ice dam on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River broke loose 20 miles upstream.

Cities and towns in the Palouse fared just as badly.

Hundreds of volunteers formed sandbag crews in Pullman and the city of Palouse as rivers and streams began spilling over their banks.

Water-soaked highways halted traffic to the town of Tekoa. Washington State University and area schools dismissed classes early so staff and students could rush home.

Columbia County was declared a state disaster area, with three bridges washed out and 350 families evacuated - most from Dayton, about 30 miles northeast of Walla Walla.

“We pushed the purple panic button a long time ago,” said Columbia County Commissioner Jon McFarland.

Flood warnings were in effect for five counties of Eastern Washington and four counties in North Idaho.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies were keeping an eye on several streams, including Latah Creek which flooded two bridges at Hangman Valley Golf Course.

In a little more than two hours, the South Fork of the Palouse in downtown Pullman rose from 4 feet to more than 7 feet, the flood stage.

U.S. Highway 12 between Waitsburg and Dayton was closed by the rising Touchet River.

Tekoa became an island, with all roads in and out closed by large pools of water.

“No one is allowed in or out,” said an exasperated Peggy Hagan, city clerk, before one of the town’s two bridges reopened Wednesday afternoon.

The city of Pullman declared an emergency as the town’s three main tributaries threatened to break through their banks at various spots in town. “It can get a lot better real quickly,” said Sgt. Duane Moore. “Or it can get worse.”

Whitman County declared an emergency as well, closing all county roads to non-essential traffic and asking schools to activate emergency plans and send students home early.

Alerted by local radio stations, several hundred volunteers materialized on Pullman’s Main Street for a sandbag brigade that put piles of bags in doorways and along the river banks.

“It was kind of a free-for-all,” said Carl Steinmetz, a drug and alcohol counselor for Whitman County Counseling Services. “People just came down here and started working. We had a lot of students, a lot of businessmen and people from all over show up.”

North of Colfax, Dennis McDonald, his wife and two girls were being evacuated from their North Palouse River Road home when an ice floe disabled the fire truck they were traveling in, said Colfax fire Capt. Jill Pettersen.

The family, along with Colfax Deputy Fire Chief John Bibler and Lt. Ken McNaughton, was stranded for 45 minutes in 3 feet of fast-moving water before another firefighter could rescue them by boat.

Between Pullman and Palouse, Spokesman-Review carrier Roger Gamet was navigating a pool of water on Parvin Road when his 1984 Subaru wagon began to float.

“I took a right turn and went about 40 feet and had my car washed out from under me,” Gamet, 43, said.

He climbed out the window and floated along with the car about five minutes before he could jump to dry ground. When he got to a house to call for help, the residents “wanted to know where their paper was,” Gamet said.

For fear that other residents would get washed away while driving, the Whitman County sheriff declared an emergency at 12:30 p.m. and closed county roads to all but necessary local and emergency traffic.

When the South Fork of the Palouse River crested shortly before noon, it was flowing at 4,000 cubic feet per second, said Larry Meinert, a WSU geologist. Ordinarily, the river flows at 300 cubic feet per second.

The North Fork continued rising through the day and residents at the west end of Main Street of the city of Palouse were asked to evacuate.

“When you’re rising eight inches an hour, it doesn’t take very long for us to have a problem,” said Palouse Police Chief Phineas Haglin.

The threat of continued rain and high temperatures had officials nervous.

“We’re going to be at this all night,” said Haglin.

While individual towns have seen worse floods, this storm appeared to have a broader impact than most, said Whitman County Undersheriff Dalton Lewey.

The culprit: a strong flow of air from the southwest off subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s a typical Pineapple Express,” meteorologist Ken Holmes said.

In the small farming community of Latah, about 30 miles south of Spokane, emergency crews piled sandbags around homes and the partially flooded Western Farm Service fertilizer plant.

Marsha Eberhardt, who lives on the west bank of the creek, had flood water lapping against her home early Wednesday.

“That’s one of the things about living right here,” she said. “I’ve got a sign on my wall that says, ‘Grab a hammer, build an ark.”’

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 Color)

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Eric Sorensen and Mike Prager Staff writers Staff writers Adam Lynn and Tom Sowa contributed to this report.