Weather

In like a lion. Winter strikes again, slowing traffic and pedestrians in North Idaho. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review<

1. Kathie Mullennix waits for help after her car slid into the ditch on Hatch Road early Monday. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. A flock of birds hovers around a snow-covered evergreen shrub at Walk in the Wild.

Property insurers have suffered losses of nearly $2 billion from wind damage, collapsed roofs, power outages and burst pipes caused by this year's blizzards, a trade group said Thursday. Forty-one states have suffered the damage, said Property Claim Services, a division of American Insurance Services Group Inc.

A military vehicle with treads negotiates the snow-covered streets of Aarhus, Denmark on Monday. Photo by Associated Press

The mere mention of potholes Thursday was met with denial by public agencies around Kootenai County. "We don't have any," joked Herb Heisel, road supervisor with the Post Falls Highway District. A second later, he admitted that crews were out slinging cold asphalt mix in an attempt to save tires, brakes and wheel alignments.

Bumper crop. "Holes are us - that's our call number," says Abe Ferris, who fills in a pothole on East Wellesley with fellow city street crew member Larry Anderson. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Several dozens died - among them eight children - with smashed skulls or smothered under falling mud and trash. Shacks slipped from cliffs. Whole neighborhoods were blocked off, leaving thousands stranded, and scores of schools and businesses closed. The culprit: rain - nearly 12 inches of it in some parts of Rio on Tuesday alone.

Gov. Phil Batt will ask the Legislature to add an emergency provision to the property-tax-cut legislation he pushed through last year, allowing flood-damaged counties to raise property taxes for emergency repairs. "We need to have all of our financial resources available to rebuild from this horrible disaster," Batt said.

With the mud in their living rooms starting to dry, Eastern Washington's flood-ravaged residents and officials set to putting a dollar figure on the damages and making arrangements for federal relief Monday. The last of Whitman County's roads was reopened, but sections of Columbia County are so damaged that officials still are having trouble determining how many homes were deluged on the South Fork of the Touchet River. "Unfortunately, I've been able to get to only one because there are two major mudslides and two broken bridges between me and them," said county Commissioner Jon McFarland.

Jeff Anderson checks on pumps emptying his father's front yard Monday at Harbor Island. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Towns struggle to surface Paul Brebner breaks through ice to get to a family home north of St. Maries on Monday morning. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Awesome aftermath Spectators turn out in Riverfront Park to watch the Spokane River flow at 38,500 cubic feet per second. The river crested Monday about a foot above flood stage. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

In deep trouble. Mike Irwin pulls his family ashore after checking his flooded home Sunday in Cataldo, Idaho. "It looks like a war zone with a mudslide mixed in," he said. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review <

Heavy rains caused flooding up to six feet deep in parts of Jakarta on Saturday, immobilizing traffic in the city of 10 million people and stranding residents in mosques, schools and even rooftops. There were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or serious damage. The runoff from torrential rains that started at midnight overwhelmed the city's network of rivers, many of which are blocked by waste and have been narrowed by construction along their banks.

1. (Flooding at a glance) 2. Kingston, Idaho, resident Tom Rahm and his dog, Endo, help their neighbor evacuate Friday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 3. Colfax residents turned out Friday morning to shore up a levee against the rising Palouse River. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Randy Proctor rides a personal watercraft down the main street of Palouse on Friday. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Downtown Palouse, including riverfront mobile homes and the road on either side of the bridge, were flooded on Friday. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 3. Amy Voth, 13, and Audrey Bensel, 13, offer 'refuge' at the Dayton Community Bible Church. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Flood waters are splashing up against uninsured homes in Washington and Idaho. "I would hazard to guess that most of them didn't have insurance," said Les Ruhs, a Colfax agent with Associated Independent Agencies.

Ken Cahill rescues Calvin, his father's cat, from a landslide in Dodson, Ore. Photo by Associated Press

1. Houses in Potlatch, Idaho, are engulfed by floodwaters on Friday. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Cataldo resident Steve Matthews helps position sandbags under the I-90 overpass. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review