Benewah Official Admits Mistakes County Allowed Trailer Homes In Flood Plain

Benewah County was too lax in enforcing its flood plain ordinance, Commissioner Jack Buell said Monday.

The county will be put on probation in March by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for such actions as allowing trailer homes to be located in the flood plain.

“We just misjudged,” said Buell, whose constituents include hundreds left homeless by recent flooding along the St. Joe River.

“We’re going to be a heck of a lot smarter than we were before.”

Probation means county residents face possible loss of federal flood insurance and emergency help in another disaster.

Remaining in the National Flood Insurance Program is important, Buell said, adding that commissioners will meet Wednesday with FEMA officials “to try to work it out.”

George Currier, the county’s civil defense director, said commissioners interpreted the ordinance loosely as a humanitarian gesture.

For example, Currier said, many people who live along the river have lost wages because of timber industry cutbacks. Commissioners knew those people couldn’t afford lots on higher ground, he said.

So, as a compromise, people with mobile homes were required to leave the wheels and “tongues” on their homes so they could be pulled out within two hours in the event of a flood warning.

Few people, however, pulled out despite more than 20 hours of warning of February’s flooding.

“I don’t think they thought it could happen,” Buell said of the flood, which breached two dikes and inundated the county airport. “I fell into that, too. We barely got our airplanes out of there.”

Many people who built conventional homes along the dikes ignored the ban against living in the lowest level of their homes, Currier said.

“They were told, ‘Don’t finish your basements.’ Practically all of them did,” he said.

Those houses must be elevated or moved, according to FEMA’s regional director, Chuck Steele.

But Currier doesn’t think that’s necessary.

“There’s where we’d like to see a little wriggle room given,” he said.

Currier also disagrees with FEMA inspectors who said some homes had been been built right into the dikes. Those houses actually were built into rock fill that had been added to reinforce the dikes, he said.

Federal inspectors first discovered problems with enforcement of the county’s flood plain ordinance in 1994, Currier said. Three months ago, FEMA sent a letter again calling the problem to the commissioners’ attention.

But it was FEMA officials who used poor judgment when they made an issue of the county’s probation while people still are struggling to recover from the February floods, Currier said.

“It was bad timing,” he said.

Doug Gore, head of FEMA relief efforts in North Idaho, emphasized that no one should hesitate to apply for federal assistance because of the conflict over Benewah County’s ordinance.

Meanwhile, parts of Benewah County still are under water. Currier estimated it will take another week for pumps to dry out the Meadowhurst and Riverdale areas.

Buell wouldn’t speculate on the future of those neighborhoods. Once houses suffer major damage, the flood plain ordinance requires that they be rebuilt on higher ground.

“We’re not going to say anything to scare anyone,” Buell said of people who have lost their homes. “They’ve been through enough.”

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Flood information Rebuilding help: Local government officials who are coping with the aftermath of flooding will get information Thursday about the federal infrastructure assistance program. An informal meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Idaho Transportation Department building, 600 W. Prairie, Coeur d’Alene. The federal program can provide money for removing debris, repairing road and water systems, fixing public buildings, restoring parks and the like. Cataldo meeting: An information meeting for flood victims in the Cataldo area will be held at 7 p.m. today at Canyon School in Cataldo. Information will be provided about disaster assistance programs. Representatives from the Kootenai County Department of Disaster Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be featured. Damaged roads: Repair work has begun on some roads in the St. Joe ranger district which were damaged by floodwaters. They include: Clarkia-Marble Road 321 from Boulder Creek to Eagle Creek. It was washed out in several locations, making it impassable. Eagle Creek Road 758 from its junction with the Clarkia-Marble Road to milepost 4. Travel is restricted because of culvert washouts. Fishhook-Gold Center Road 301 from Lick Creek to the junction with the Avery Timber Creek Road. It is passable only to vehicles under 50 inches wide.