Worst Flooding In 35 Years Damages 11 Buildings In Rockford

The worst flooding in 35 years hit the tiny farming community of Rockford on Wednesday, heavily damaging downtown businesses and some homes.

At least 11 buildings were damaged in the city 15 miles south of the Spokane Valley when Rock Creek surged over its banks about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

At one point, officials estimate the normally placid creek was rising at the rate of more than one foot every five minutes.

No one was injured, but firefighters carried Rose Ray, 86, from her apartment just as a rush of water knocked over her refrigerator.

“It was the first time in her life she has ever owned new furniture,” said Ray’s son, former Rockford Mayor Jim Ray. “She lost almost everything,” including a parakeet that escaped during the ruckus.

Town Clerk Carrie Roecks said she doubts any of the buildings were insured for floods. The town sits in a flood plain, she said, so insurance is especially costly.

Roecks used a faucet to wash thick mud from a computer that was inside the fire station. Hundreds of tapes and scores of sports memorabilia were destroyed in JR’s Sport’s Cards/Video Flicks. Goo coated the carpeting of the Rockford Historical Society.

The U.S. Post Office was left with a dirt ring 2 feet up the walls. Out back, water lapped at the windows of the RV where the post master lives.

By late Wednesday, no one could get inside Fredneck’s Bar & Grill, the building that appeared worst hit.

Water was still pounding at the door at 9 p.m., even though the creek crested about 7 a.m. and fell significantly during the day.

State Highway 278, which runs through Rockford to the Idaho-Washington state line, was expected to remain closed until this morning, said said Rockford Fire Chief Stan Seehorn.

“The park’s under water. All the fair buildings are under water. People are pumping out their basements. It’s just incredible,” Roecks said.

The Rockford Town Council declared a state of emergency. They hope that action, and a similar move by Spokane County commissioners, will help clear the way for state and federal disaster relief money.

Although Town Hall was not flooded, signs of the damage were everywhere as businesses brought in goods to dry out in one of the few dry places in town.

Soggy trading cards and autographed pictures of sports stars like Johnny Bench were spread to dry on the table where council members strategized. Bins of soggy foam rollers from Dianne’s Hair Place dried in a corner.

Rockford saw little damage when severe flooding hit other Palouse towns last February. In fact, Seehorn said the last time the town was damaged this badly was 1962, when he was 14.

Since then, the dikes that hold Rock Creek have been raised. The stream runs at a trickle most of the year but was fed Wednesday by rapidly melting snow.

Lou Abbey, who owns Fredneck’s with her husband, Fred, said Rock Creek was just splashing over its banks when the tavern’s New Year’s Eve party ended. The couple put the juke box and other electronic equipment onto pool tables and the bar - not high enough to escape the water that rushed into the building by dawn.

, DataTimes