Flood Worries Little Spokane River Residents Have Never Seen Water This High

Arthur Miller planned to sell his Little Spokane riverfront home anyway, and the foot of flood water in his garage did nothing to change his mind.

“I’m going to put out a sign that says, ‘Island for Sale,”’ said Miller, a 36-year riverfront property owner.

Like most people with land along the normally tranquil North Spokane river, Miller answered questions about last week’s raging floods with a tired, resigned shrug. The pasture behind his Pine River Park home had become “Lake Woebegone” and flowers in planters next to his deck floated like water lilies.

“What the heck are you going to do?” he said before heading inside to eat a chicken and rice casserole a concerned neighbor gave him.

The Little Spokane River reached record flood levels last week, cresting at 8.24 feet. The river’s breakneck speed - 4,100 cubic feet per second - was almost seven times faster than normal, erasing the river’s characteristic oxbows and scaring the bejeezes out of the river otters.

Most riverfront homes had flooded basements and some people, like Miller, watched their outbuildings get drenched. But no one was in danger and no one was asked to evacuate, said Fire District 9 chief Bob Anderson.

The deluge spilled over roadways and flooded a bridge on Little Spokane Drive near Golden Road. Fenceposts from upstream bobbed like kids at a water park. The gazebo and restrooms at Pine River Park were submerged.

Damage estimates are being tallied.

“In our years here, we’ve had the creek come up high, but never anything like this,” said Walt Moe, whose river memory stretches back 43 years. “‘Course, the missus argues with me about the time 25 years ago when I had to pack mama out on my back…”

Watching the flood was a spectator sport. Carloads of gawkers jammed Little Spokane Drive; TV news crews were drawn like flies to a bug light.

The flooded kept a sense of humor.

“This is pretty cool,” said Jeremiah Alton, 13. He and his twin brother Jeff, Northwood Junior High seventh-graders, mourned not having a raft. But instead of moping, they profiteered, offered river views off their parents’ porch for $2. They’d had no takers by Thursday afternoon.

While pumps spewed a stream of water out of the basement of Zack Meyers’ Leona Drive home, his pet ducks frolicked. The fat fowl’s pen is normally dry, but the river did some remodeling, carving out a duck pond.

“They love it,” said Meyers, a Mead High sophomore.

Jeanette Barrett, a 40-year river dweller, watched the Little Spokane lapping at a half-submerged tire swing in the picnic area in front of her home. “Everyone just got their yards cleaned from the ice storm,” she said, sighing.

But as twilight fell Thursday evening and the waters began receding, neighbors huddled with her to celebrate the excitement and the good fortune of escaping serious damage. Most had been up since before dawn.

“Time for a beer,” she said. “You want one?”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 color photos