Batt Seeking Federal Help For Cleanup Governor Estimates It May Take $7.4 Million To Help Thousands Hit By Heavy Rain, Flooding

Gov. Phil Batt asked for federal emergency help on Friday as flooding slowed a little but thousands of western Idaho residents remained isolated by washed-out roads for the third straight day.

“I have determined that this incident is of such severity, magnitude and duration that an effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments,” Batt wrote in a letter to President Clinton.

“There is a potential that an estimated 25,000 citizens could require food, water, medical assistance, evacuation and/or sheltering as a result of this disaster.”

Batt, who said the required federal assistance could reach $7.4 million, added nine counties to a list of emergency areas on Thursday after a helicopter tour of the areas hardest hit by heavy rain and flooding. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig led another helicopter tour on Friday.

A representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency went on the helicopter tour to assess the need for federal help.

Craig said after the trip that he and other members of the Idaho congressional delegation would expedite the request for federal help.

He said the extent of the flood damage was impressive.

“We’re seeing the water recede now in the Payette area, but clearly, there is tremendous damage still going on with high water.”

Floodwaters also were receding from Council and Cambridge.

“There’s a tremendous amount of road damage, both to state and county roads, in that area,” Craig said. “Obviously, there are many people who have been displaced from their homes.”

Part of the tour was over the Midvale area, which is Craig’s home town.

“Midvale got pretty wet,” the senator said. “It looked like they all were pretty busy up there trying to put themselves back together.”

The Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services said about 200 families had been forced out of their homes by flooding in Gem County alone. Thousand of other people in McCall, Lowman, Banks, Riggins and Garden Valley were stranded by washouts or rocks and mud covering highways.

The city of Council reported its drinking water was contaminated by floodwaters. A boil order also was in effect in Cambridge, and the cities of Council, Cambridge and Payette reported that their sewage lagoons were flooded.

There also were critical shortages of gasoline, diesel, propane and heating fuel in the Lowman area, but the Bureau of Disaster Services said it was unaware of any families in dire circumstances yet.

Maj. Gen. John Kane, adjutant general of the Idaho National Guard, said he was advised it could be a couple of weeks before people could drive out of Lowman. Kane said the Guard was ready to supply food or other necessities to an estimated 400 people in the Lowman area, but hadn’t received any requests for help yet.

Meanwhile, searchers Friday evening found the wreckage of a single-engine airplane that crashed after leaving McCall en route to Boise on Thursday with five people aboard.

Bart Welsh of the Idaho Division of Aeronautics said a helicopter was on the scene near Council about 5 p.m. Friday. A searcher at the scene said it did not appear there were any survivors.

Washington County officers planned to travel to the crash site this morning, weather permitting.

The names of the Cessna 210’s pilot and four passengers were being withheld. The private plane left McCall about 2 p.m. Thursday after earlier making another trip from the resort community to Boise carrying people who had been stranded in McCall by blocked highways.

Mud and rock slides blocked several of the state’s major highways in western and southern Idaho, and highway officials said it could be several days before they could be reopened.

The state Department of Transportation said 11 sections of U.S. Highway 95, western Idaho’s major north-south route, were closed, damaged or covered by water. Idaho Highway 55, a heavily used route from Boise to North Idaho, also was closed and Idaho 21 was shut down by a 1,000-foot washout south of Lowman.

Transportation Department Director Dwight Bower said the priority would be getting Idaho 55 open to at least emergency traffic, and clearing Idaho 21 to the point where people could get to the isolated community of Lowman.

Bower said state crews would work on clearing the sections of U.S. 95 where cleanup could begin.

“High water still delays many repairs and cleanup efforts and some closures cannot be accessed due to other closures that must be cleared first,” the agency said.

Idaho Power Co. said about 1,500 customers were still without electricity, but portable generators were moved into Garden Valley to provide temporary power to about 500 people.

Idaho Power said it had about 2,500 customers out of service New Year’s Day, and it could be this afternoon before all the people still without power were back in service.

The utility said employee Doug Wright, 46, of Halfway, Ore., was injured Wednesday when a backhoe he was operating was swept by a mudslide off an Idaho Power-maintained road between Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams.

Spokesman Dennis Lopez said Wright was in fair condition Friday at a Boise hospital after shoulder surgery.

The utility said melting snowpack in mountains above the Snake River has produced a record flow in the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam. The flow on Wednesday was 101,728 cubic feet per second, breaking the 14-year-old record of 87,800 cfs.

Company spokesmen said the Idaho Power complex of dams in Hells Canyon was in no danger because the floodgates could handle more than 300,000 cfs. A flow of 101,728 cfs meant more than 750,000 gallons per second was flowing through the floodgates.

Utility engineer Jim Voyles said the flow could mean the Hells Canyon area has experienced a 100-year flood, a flood that might be expected only once every century.

Residents of flood-stricken western Idaho communities said they were doing the best they could to cope with the disaster.

“All of our county bridges are out,” said Judy Boyle of Midvale. “Council is the one really cut off. They can’t get out.”

Dorris Stelling of Emmett said the mobile home of her son, Wayne, was flooded by the Payette River and remains under water.

“He lost everything except what he could grab,” Stelling said.

Her rental property about 200 feet from the river also was flooded. Water remained up to the window level on Friday.

“It flooded the main drag downtown,” she said. “It came up about three or four blocks on both sides of the river.”

McCall Police Lt. Carla Donica said grocery stores were running short of food, particularly bread and milk. With skies clearing at midday Friday, officials hoped airplanes from Boise would bring in badly needed supplies.

“Overall, we’re doing pretty well,” Donica said.

The National Weather Service continued flood warnings for the Weiser, Payette and Snake rivers in Idaho and the Malheur River at Vale in eastern Oregon. But it said most of the swollen rivers were receding. The Malheur was expected to remain at flood levels but slowly fall by the weekend.