Panhandle Slowly Emerges Floodwaters Still Threaten Lake Coeur D’Alene, Spokane River

Floodwaters blew through dikes and records before slowly beginning to recede Saturday throughout most of North Idaho.

But a few new problems arose.

A mile-long ice jam diverted water from the Moyie River in Boundary County into the tiny border town of Eastport. A few residents were evacuated and dozens of others began sandbagging in icy after-dark temperatures to keep water from a government housing complex.

Meanwhile, water continued to rise around Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River, filling basements in Mica Bay and threatening to thrust a 1.2-million-pound floating restaurant downstream.

Welders seared cage-like pilings to The Cedars restaurant near the mouth of the river Saturday. Owner Ray Gillett also hired a tugboat to idle against the building and hold it in place through the weekend.

“It’s insurance,” Gillett said. “When temperatures drop, you check your pipes for freezing. When the lake rises, you make sure your restaurant doesn’t float away.”

Workers at the nearby Coeur d’Alene Yacht Club trucked dozens of boats to higher ground.

Lake waters are expected to crest nearly 8 feet above summer levels Monday or Tuesday. Without the precautions, that’d be high enough to crush boats against their aluminum hangars and free The Cedars from its cradle of I-beams.

Gillett said he had the same trouble in 1972. But the restaurant stayed open, even with a parking lot under water.

“We put 60 miles on a Bronco ferrying people” across the 400-yard-long lot,” he said. “Things were different in those days.”

Things weren’t much different Saturday for residents of Cataldo and St. Maries, the region’s hardest hit areas. Water reached or topped early-1970s levels and kept 1,400 people from returning to their mud-and gunk-filled homes.

Three dikes burst near St. Maries during the night Friday and the area lost power for a second time Saturday. Residents still had running water, but were asked to boil it before drinking.

By noon, as many as 100 homes along the St. Joe River still were under 10 feet of water.

“For most the homes, all you can see are rooftops, and you can’t get to them,” said Ed Westbrook, Benewah County undersheriff.

Residents continued to plug leaky sandbag walls to protect Archie’s IGA the only remaining grocery store.

“This morning St. Maries Super Foods was surrounded by 2 inches to 2 feet of water covered with glare ice,” said Sheriff Roger Thormahlen.

Store owners slogged through water-soaked aisles gathering salvageable food. Most was donated to the American Red Cross at its shelter in a school gymnasium.

Volunteers gave the food to displaced residents and served rescue workers more than 800 beef stew and spaghetti meals, said volunteer Leslie Crane.

“It’s the only way we could get some people to stop working for a minute,” she said.

Only 15 people spent Friday night on cots at the shelter. Another 350 stayed with friends or filled hotel rooms.

In Cataldo and the Silver Valley, waters dropped about 3 feet from a midnight crest of 53 feet, but authorities couldn’t get an accurate reading because the marker remained under water.

“We’ve gone from worst to bad,” said Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

While area roads began to drain, about 1,000 residents still could return to their homes only by rowboat, said county disaster worker Carol Grubbs. Helicopters were used to search and retrieve stranded residents.

After Idaho Gov. Phil Batt toured North Idaho’s flooded areas Saturday, he signed a request for federal assistance. The three federal programs the governor specifically requests are Individual Assistance, Public Assistance and Small Business Administration disaster loans.

Boundary County Commissioner Bob Graham said workers couldn’t break up an afternoon ice jam on the Moyie and briefly considered using explosives to help release the water. By early evening, officials were more worried about reports of another jam on the Canadian side of the river.

“If any more breaks loose and comes down, we’re going to have more problems,” Graham said. “The entire community would be threatened.”

In Rockford and Mica bays along Lake Coeur d’Alene, roads were washed out and lakeside residents settled in for a weekend of damage control.

“I’ve got water pouring over the yard and into the basement and I’m going to lose my furnace in an hour,” said Mica Bay resident JoAnn Simpson. “It’s a good thing we have a fireplace.”

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MEMO: Cut in the Spokane edition.