Forecast renews flood threat
It was a twist of cruel fate for Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby. As meteorologists predict skies will fill with angry, rainy storm clouds throughout the week, the mayor learned from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they were wrong Sunday in projecting that floods would not hit his city and Boundary County.
Now the threat is more severe than initially thought, with National Weather Service river forecasts showing the Kootenai River spilling to a little less than 2 feet above the flood mark of 1,764 feet by Friday.
Kerby expressed some frustration Monday morning, because previous reports indicated the water would remain just under a foot below flood stage throughout the week.
“This is completely backwards from what we were anticipating,” Kerby said of the announcement by forecasters. “They told us that it wouldn’t at all hit flood stage.”
Corps surveys Monday showed 46 miles of dikes along the river had been damaged, putting cost estimates for repairs at about $1 million per mile of shore, Kerby said.
More than 80 miles of dikes on both sides of the river protect thousands of acres of farmland and crops in Boundary County.
In addition, underground seepage has damaged an estimated $2.5 million worth of crops in the county, and the number could increase.
Cindy Henriksen, a corps spokeswoman in Portland, said the newly updated forecast, analyzed each morning, was a result of anticipated rainfall from storms this week as well as a potential increase from the outflow of Libby Dam in Montana.
Lake Koocanusa – the reservoir behind the dam – is at a foot below capacity, Henriksen said, so increased runoff into the reservoir means more water must be released through the dam’s spillway. Nothing official has been decided, she said, but the agency is considering releasing water at a rate of 43,000 cubic feet per second, up from the current 38,000 cfs. That means more water will flow down the Kootenai River, threatening the alreadyweakened dikes on the banks around Bonners Ferry.
Idaho National Guard Maj. Gen. Lawrence Lafrenz and Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart are expected to be in Boundary County this morning to discuss resources available to the area, Kerby said.
There will also be a workshop meeting of officials from the city, county, FEMA and the corps.
A corps helicopter will fly through the broad, flat Kootenai Valley to assess damages, Kerby added, and sandbags will be placed in front of the Kootenai River Inn and Casino, which sits on the banks of the foreboding waters.
The Panhandle Health District will create an action plan to battle an infestation of mosquitoes that appeared after flows filled dry areas in the western side of the valley and hatched dormant larvae.
Biologists are worried that the West Nile virus may plague the area, transmitted by the swarms of newly hatched mosquitoes.
A dead raven containing the virus was found in 2002 in Washington’s Pend Oreille County, which borders Boundary County.
“We want to see what, if anything, we might be able to do,” Kerby said.