Slides Close Panhandle Roads Runoff Backs Up Traffic In Boundary County

More mud.

That’s the forecast from authorities in Bonner and Boundary counties, who battled mudslides Thursday - trying to keep roads open and traffic moving on U.S. Highway 95.

“Everything is saturated and the snow isn’t even close to gone yet,” said Bonner County Undersheriff Nick Krager. “It’s getting bad.”

Traffic on Highway 95 was snarled Thursday near Bonners Ferry. The highway was reopened in the morning to just one lane after a hillside slammed onto the road Wednesday, sweeping one car onto a golf course.

By afternoon, crews had cleared enough slide debris to reopen both lanes, the Idaho Department of Transportation said.

Before both lanes were reopened, traffic was allowed to pass at 15-minute intervals, creating mile-long jams on the only major north-south route in the Panhandle.

“We didn’t want any traffic on the inside lane next to the hill in case any more mud, rocks or trees slough off,” said Boundary County Commissioner Murleen Skeen. She was at home sandbagging her own road after ditches full of water threatened to wash it away.

Part of the problem, Skeen said, was that the detour around the Highway 95 slide had to be closed. It was blocked by another collapse of mud.

Truckers heading into Idaho from Canada were stopped at the border Wednesday night while the highway was being cleared. More than 200 semitrucks were backed up and parked at the ports of entry at Porthill and Eastport on Thursday.

“It was a mess. We let them go at 10-minute intervals to avoid a big jam,” said Ken Klaus, director of the U.S. Customs Service at Porthill. To make matters worse, a brief windstorm Thursday knocked out power to Porthill customs and downed trees, blocking more of the road.

“Nobody knows which way to go anymore,” Klaus said. “It’s iffy on which roads will be open. We are telling people not to travel through Bonners Ferry if they don’t have to.”

A flooded Canadian roadway just above Porthill was expected to be closed late Thursday, Klaus said. Intermittent mudslides also keep blocking Highway 95 north of Bonners Ferry, causing more delays.

“It’s amazing the amount of water still coming down that hill,” Skeen said. “It not sliding like it was, but it’s still a problem.”

Boundary County has declared a state of emergency, which will remain in effect until at least after the weekend when more rain is expected.

Two mudslides forced the closure of Dufort Road near Priest River. The ground on the sides of the major east-west route is so unstable authorities closed it until Saturday. While crews tried to clear one of the slides, another section caved in behind them. Seven county workers were trapped on the road, which sits next to the Pend Oreille River.

The Sheriff’s Department sent a boat to rescue the crew, but they managed to punch a hole through the mudslide with a front-end loader and get out. A county worker in Bonners Ferry suffered a broken leg Thursday after a mudslide slammed into and buried the loader he was driving.

Cory Kramer, 22, was trying to clear Old Highway 2. It was being used as a detour route around a major mudslide on Highway 95. A gush of mud crashed over Kramer’s loader, ripping the bucket off the front end and nearly trapping him, authorities said.

At least three Bonner County roads are closed now and another 21 have major flooding problems.

“Roads are partially washing out pretty much countywide,” Krager said.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SCHOOLS CLOSED Boundary County schools will be closed today because of flooding.