Task Force Probing Dam Break Weekend Flood Damaged Roads, Property
A task force has been formed to investigate the rupture of an earthen dam that caused thousands of dollars in flood damage in the Elmer City area Saturday.
The dam failure released more than 6.5 million gallons from Rebecca Lake on the Colville Indian Reservation. Within four hours, about 2 feet of water was drained from the 10-acre lake near the unincorporated community of Belvedere.
Damages to tribal, state, federal and private properties haven’t been totaled, a tribal spokeswoman said.
No livestock or people were injured, but public and private roads were damaged extensively. The flooding carved a 30-foot cliff at the edge of state Highway 155 about eight miles north of Elmer City. The highway was quickly reopened, but a nearby county road remains closed and several hundred feet of a Columbia River boat ramp are washed out.
Water also poured through the office of the Spirit Ridge Campground and a shop on Martin and Wendy Olbricht’s ranch.
Wendy Olbricht said the water came down a road across their property, turning the road into a riverbed and a corral area into a field of rocks.
“It dug some really awful looking gullies,” Olbricht said. “I would say it is at least an eight-foot drop in places, eight to 15.”
She said neighbor Mathew Dick Jr. sounded a warning about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, about an hour after the dam broke, when he heard the rushing water. The Olbrichts thought they would be spared, but the flood cut a large channel onto their property several hours later.
“We were trying to bring in rocks to keep it out of the shed, but all of a sudden it just came gushing through,” Olbricht said.
She said the shop wasn’t seriously damaged, but it may cost thousands of dollars to replace all the soil that was washed away.
Another worry for Olbricht is the rattlesnakes that infest the slopes above her home. She no longer knows where to expect the snakes.
“That’s my concern,” she said. “Where are the snakes going to go now?”
Officials from the tribal government and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs announced Tuesday that they had formed a task force to study the dam, which was hastily repaired over the weekend. Officials will consider eliminating the dam or replacing it with a more substantial structure.
The earthen dam, at the site of an old beaver dam, has been maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since the 1970s. Officials said the lake level was higher than normal, and the dam was washed out by water seeping through it.