Extra! Spring Creek Road Washed Out

You might want to let people know … I just watched a huge chunk of Spring Creek road collapse into Lightning Creek and that road is now closed. I know they were attempting some evacuations from that area, as spring creek is the only road in or out, but it wasn’t totally successful. Not sure yet what they’ll do with kids at school, either, except maybe have a campout.

Currently, it doesn’t appear that the bridge into Clark Fork is in any danger… it’s still a good 3 or 4 feet above water. But there’s an enormous amount of debris in the water, and I heard it said that if the island (farther upstream) goes, then most of that debris will be coming down and we may well lose the bridge. The bridge, of course, is our only access in and out of Clark Fork on the west side … if it goes, to get to Sandpoint we’ll have to go through Libby.

It’s quite the spectacle, and my camera is in my daughter’s car in Sandpoint. If I can get my paper done and uploaded to the printer, I’ll go borrow a camera and send you some pictures.

Trish Gannon /The River Journal

Update (from Trish): Just got an unconfirmed report that they lost the Heron Bridge (Heron,
Mont.)