Rivers On The Way Up Centennial Trail Section Damaged Again

A section of the Centennial Trail damaged by floods last year, then repaired for $73,000, is flooded again.

“We know we’re going to have some damage. We don’t know how much yet,” said Spokane County parks and recreation manager Wyn Birkenthal.

The Spokane is one of several swollen rivers in the Inland Northwest that continued rising Monday, as high temperatures shrank the mountains’ record snowpack.

A dramatic increase in Pend Oreille River flow is expected by Friday - from about 78,000 cubic feet per second Monday to 90,000 cfs. That’s still below the official flood stage of 106,000 cfs, which officials believe will soon be exceeded.

Flooding along the Pend Oreille is expected in late May or early June.

In North Idaho, 50 feet of a levee downstream from St. Maries crumbled under the pressure of the St. Joe River, swamping a road. Nearby residents were warned to empty their basements in case of floods.

The St. Joe was rising about an inch every three or four hours, and was above flood stage. By Friday, Benewah County officials said, the river could be 5-1/2 feet above flood stage and mere inches below the tops of levees.

The Coeur d’Alene River also was above flood stage, but causing no serious problems, according to Kootenai County Disaster Services.

The St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene, along with the St. Maries River, all feed Lake Coeur d’Alene, which was 5 feet above its usual summer level on Monday. The lake could rise another 2 feet by the end of next week, said Pat Lynch of Washington Water Power Co.

“We’ve got three rivers coming in on one side (of the lake) and only one river coming out,” said Lynch.

That one outlet is the Spokane River, which was flowing at 31,000 cfs on Monday, leaving logs and other debris snagged on trees. As much as 2 feet of water covered the Centennial Trail in places.

By the end of next week, the river may be flowing at nearly 40,000 cfs, said Lynch. Some summers, the river drops below 500 cfs.

Birkenthal said the county purchased 7,000 sandbags to protect the Centennial Trail from the raging Spokane River between Flora and Barker Roads in the Valley.

But there may be no one to stack the bags until next Monday, when a work crew from Geiger Corrections Center is available.

Birkenthal said his own crews are too busy repairing damage from November’s ice storm and other spring projects. Runoff has created gullies in popular hiking and riding trails at Liberty Lake County Park, for instance.

Lynch said the river probably won’t hit the near-record flows of February 1996. That’s when water undercut the asphalt trail in places, leading to $73,000 in repairs.

Information on the Pend Oreille River flow may be obtained from the county utility district’s Internet site at www.popud.com or by calling (509) 447-3137. For information about emergency preparations, call the county Emergency Services Department, (509) 447-3731.

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The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Dan Hansen Staff writer Staff writers Susan Drumheller and John Craig contributed to this report.