Rapid melt fuels flooding

Flooding Monday washed out a portion of the only paved road to Mount Spokane, stranding about a dozen residents and leaving state officials rushing to repair it.

Water started coming over Mt. Spokane Park Drive on Sunday night when a creek overwhelmed a culvert pipe, undercutting a large stretch of asphalt on what is state Route 206, according to the state Department of Transportation.

State officials hope to place a temporary pipe across the highway just down from the blown pipe to allow traffic to travel through on a gravel surface.

“It’s pretty screwed up,” said Bruce Gillett, who lives in a condominium on the mountain. He and his neighbors can’t leave the mountain because of the closed road, but he said no one is in danger. “Our people up here are pretty sturdy. We’ll be OK.”

Flooding across the region began late last week. While cooler temperatures today are expected to slow the melting of mountain snow, rain could make things worse, according to the National Weather Service.

“The rain’s kind of the wild card,” said Kerry Jones, a weather service meteorologist in Spokane. “If it falls in the right part of the basin, there could definitely be some issues.”

Emergency crews reported no serious emergencies Monday.

“We’re just kind of in the same situation we were in the other day as far as monitoring the situation,” said Lisa Jameson, program specialist with Spokane Emergency Management.

In North Idaho, eastbound Interstate 90’s exit 40 at Cataldo was shut down Monday morning after water from the Coeur d’Alene River covered the roadway.

Several Shoshone County roads also are closed because of high water. Crews likely will use a helicopter today to check on residents who chose to stay at homes or campsites along the closed roads, which include Old River Road, CCC Road, Riverview Road and Trout Creek Road, said Lisa Johnson, spokeswoman for the county’s flood team. Debris in the river makes boating too dangerous, Johnson said.

The Central Shoshone County Water District continues to ask residential and business customers in Osburn, Big Creek, Kellogg and Smelterville to boil drinking water because of contamination risks. Residents in Milo Creek, Burke Canyon and Mullan are asked to conserve water.

Elsewhere, the Kootenai River continued to rise but was below flood stage. It’s expected to crest short of serious flooding, officials said.

In Benewah County, the St. Joe River was almost 3 feet higher than the flood stage of 32.5 feet. The latest forecast calls for the river to crest Thursday at about 37.5 feet. Riverside homes are experiencing flooding, said county Director of Emergency Management Norm Suenkel. But all residents were prepared, he said.

“They’ve been through it before,” Suenkel said.

The county’s biggest concern is keeping dikes intact, he said.

Flood teams from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers gave Benewah County 20,000 sandbags Monday, and some were used to shore up dikes, Suenkel said.

Teams of engineers are working to protect a sewer line in Osburn, Idaho, and to shore up levies along Lightning Creek near the town of Clark Fork.

While Shoshone County officials said residents unable to leave their homes had adequate warning, the closure of Mt. Spokane Park Drive came as a surprise to most residents, Gillett said.

State transportation spokesman Al Gilson said this is the first time he can recall the road closing because of flooding.

“We’ve had high water along that highway in that area but this is the first time this has washed out,” he said.