A portion of a river dike that has been cracked for several months burst Saturday afternoon, flooding a house and a barn on the north side of Bonners Ferry.

A 140-foot section of the stone dike collapsed into the Kootenai River a half-mile south of the bridge about 4 p.m.

A trailer park and several other houses would be flooded if the other half of the dike collapsed, said Bob Graham, head of Boundary County disaster services.

Workers from Bonners Ferry and Boundary County worked for six hours to minimize flooding, but are concerned about the rising water level.

Late Saturday, the river was close to its all-time high, Graham said.

Workers planned to build a temporary dirt dike today and patch the broken dike with armor plates.

County officials applied for federal money to help fix the dike after it developed a large crack during flooding which began in February, Graham said. About 7,000 acres of farm land have flooded since.

, DataTimes