Two Flood-Control Projects Going Well
Work on two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood-control projects in North Idaho is going swimmingly.
Anticipated mid-May spring runoff from this year’s heavy mountain snowpack added urgency to St. Maries and Milo Creek projects.
Finishing touches on a $216,000 project to shore up the St. Maries floodwall will be done within two weeks, but the wall is already strong enough to withstand high waters.
“It just emits strength,” said George Currier, Benewah County’s civil defense manager.
Crews drove 40-foot steel pilings into the land side of the wall to buffer its rotting timbers at 12-foot intervals. Potlatch Corp., Jack Buell Trucking and other locals donated time and equipment. Potlatch’s St. Maries mill sits in the path of flooding.
Work on the corps’ temporary $250,000 fix to contain Milo Creek began this week. The work is an emergency repair and separate from the $12.6 million Milo Creek permanent Improvement project.
The flood control project is only half-finished. The feds stepped in to make sure spring runoff didn’t storm out of the new system and flood out Milo Creek through lower Wardner and Kellogg.
Work was slightly delayed while officials snared temporary easements from landowners along the project route.
Three private landowners wrestled with concerns about disruptions but signed the easements to protect their property from possible flooding, according to Walter Hadley, Kellogg’s planning administrator.
“We still have approximately 20 feet of snow within a mile of our city,” Hadley said.
The project starts at the Wardner Shop, runs in a partly buried pipe to Fourth and Third streets. From there, water will be diverted down Silver Avenue to Division Street to the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.
The work runs through September until the risk of flooding ends, when the channel will be removed.
The temporary channel will be about 2 feet high and 20 feet wide. People who normally park along these streets should find alternative parking places until September, officials say. The streets, however, will remain open. For more information, call Hadley at (208) 783-7751.