Disaster Workers Prepare For Worst Sooner Or Later, Warm Weather Will Cause A Surge Of Water

The warmer weather has yet to bring a surge of floodwaters from the record mountain snowpack.

“Things have been quiet so far,” said Sandy Von Behren, Kootenai County disaster services coordinator.

But county disaster workers will be filling sandbags today in preparation for high water.

The sandbags will be placed on the temporary spillway at the Hayden Lake levee to keep the plastic cover in place. The spillway was hurriedly built last month to take the pressure off the levee as the water started to rise.

The county plans to make permanent improvements after the spring flood season has passed.

On Wednesday, the Coeur d’Alene River at Cataldo was almost 6 feet below flood stage. The level of Lake Coeur d’Alene was starting to rise again after dropping 3 feet in the past two weeks.

The snowpack in Panhandle mountains ranges from 120 percent to 180 percent of normal. The snowpack is the highest it’s been since the early 1980s, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Streamflow forecasts are for well above normal to record volumes throughout the state.

Sandbags are available in Kootenai County at area fire stations, and sand is available at area sand and gravel companies.

Predicting floods, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has offered to continue a program to help property owners restore fish and wildlife habitat damaged by flooding, or prevent future flood damage. For more information, call (509) 891-6839.

, DataTimes