Flow Into Snake Slows, But Storms Loom Floodwaters Should Begin To Recede, But Warmer And Stormier Forecast Keeps Area On Edge
The Bureau of Reclamation further reduced the flow into the Snake River on Tuesday, but forecasters warned eastern Idaho flooding could increase with temperatures warming and thunderstorms looming.
Releases from Palisades Reservoir on the Idaho-Wyoming border upstream from the flooded area dropped to 36,000 cubic feet per second, 1,000 below Monday’s level and 3,000 lower than the record flow on Sunday.
While still well over the flood stage immediately below the dam of just under 25,000 cfs, the reduced flow has offered the first hint of floodwaters receding. Disaster coordinators in Jefferson County, the first place hit by high water a week ago, said some evacuees were finally moving back into their homes.
Oddly, repair of the 100-foot breach in the levee at Menan was being at least partly blamed for a slight increase in flows downstream through Idaho Falls and Blackfoot on Tuesday, though officials said it posed no increased threat.
The respite permitted repairs to a key levee in the Menan area to be completed and strengthening of weak spots throughout the levee and emergency dike system up and down the river.
Officials started into their post-flooding routine, warning residents about hazardous materials like fuel and oil that were carried onto their property by high water, and about profiteers trying to swindle them on flood repairs.
Damage from the state’s third flood in 16 months was estimated by an aide to Idaho Sen. Larry Craig at as much as $50 million. At least 15 homes have been damaged.
But National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Bauck said warmer temperatures that will accelerate the snowmelt above Palisades and storms predicted from today into the weekend could cause an abrupt reversal.
“That could push water levels at the reservoir back up,” Bauck said, and with Palisades already full, the bureau would have to again increase releases through the dam to compensate for higher inflows.
The record flows of the weekend continued pushing downstream, causing flooding in low-lying areas - some that have not seen high water for a generation or more. Some water systems and domestic wells were threatened with contamination, and the river had risen some 12 feet at Twin Falls and was within 6 inches of overwhelming the main city water line that is strung across the river on an old bridge.
City Manager Tom Courtney credited local irrigation canal companies with keeping the river at bay by siphoning more and more water into their systems that bypass the city before dumping the water back into the river downstream.
Should that pipe be washed out, the city would essentially be forced to shut down, he said.
But while the canals in southern Idaho’s Magic Valley were diverting floodwater from the river, the irrigation systems in the Upper Snake River Valley were shut down to avoid aggravating the flooding that has already swamped thousands of acres of farmland and left thousands more cut off.
The canals in eastern Idaho were closed because if full, they serve as a new channel for floodwater, essentially creating a new river.
It has, however, left farmers without water for fields that have not been ruined by the flood. Inadequate moisture at this stage will leave potatoes small, knobby and misshapen, while grains will not have full roots or heads.
“Some of us are facing an economic disaster on top of a flood disaster,” farmer Don Hale said.
Hale and other irrigators told local officials the flood control plan that has lain dormant since the Teton Dam broke in 1976 must be revived.
The state Water Resources department formed a task force to assess canal damage along the river, and the Bureau of Disaster Services set up a group on canal repair.
xxxx DAMAGE ESTIMATE Damage from the state’s third flood in 16 months was estimated by an aide to Idaho Sen. Larry Craig at as much as $50 million.