Cresting Waters Lap At Bags Spokane River, Lake Cda Top Out, But Pend Oreille Waters On Rise

Hundreds of high school students were drafted into flood-fighting service Monday, joining the National Guard and volunteers on the front line at Harbor Island.

But no sooner had homes there been secured when flood officials began turning their attention north.

The Spokane River and Lake Coeur d’Alene crested Monday without causing major damage, but Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River aren’t expected to crest until late this week.

In Spokane, the swollen river kept Peaceful Valley and Upriver Drive residents piling sandbags - just in case.

At the Edgewater Village apartments on Upriver, maintenance worker Jon Ogle was among those building flood barriers.

“The biggest problem we had was those four-wheel-drives that were cruising by and creating a wake that would ruin what we’d done,” he said.

On Monday, the Spokane City Council declared a state of emergency inside city limits. The declaration allows City Manager Bill Pupo to make decisions regarding the flooding, such as spending money for repairs or equipment, without council approval. “We’re not trying to create a panic,” Pupo said. “We’re just trying to be ahead of the curve to minimize damage.”

The Pend Oreille River rose 9-1/2 inches from Sunday’s level, flooding more basements in the Dalkena and River Bend areas.

JoAnn Boggs, Pend Oreille County emergency services director, estimated 10 to 20 homes had been flooded by Monday afternoon.

Boggs said the river now is expected to crest late Friday or early Saturday at a flow of 135,000 cubic feet per second. That could add 21/2 to 3 feet to the river level, bringing it to an elevation of 2,048 feet at Cusick.

“Two or three more feet of water, and we’re going to have a lot of areas affected,” but Cusick isn’t expected to be one of them, Boggs said.

The predicted river level would be higher than some streets in Cusick, but still 3-1/2 feet below the top of the dike protecting the town of 244.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used fill Monday morning to block water seeping under the dike, but Mayor Paul Haas said the problem was minor compared to the leak that was patched Sunday.

Elsewhere, several riverfront residential areas between Newport and Ione were being watched.

In Kootenai County, disaster services officials established an incident command post in Bayview in the event rising waters began washing away float homes, docks or yards.

“High waters are expected to lift docks and some of those things off of their pilings,” said Richard Wolfe of the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services.

Officials also are worried about septic systems flooding and the possible contamination of the Pend Oreille Pines Water System.

The lake could reach 4-1/2 feet above summer level by Thursday.

“Flows into the lake have been at near-record levels,” Wolfe said. On Monday, the Clark Fork River was flowing at 130,000 cubic feet per second, which is slightly less than its volume during the 1974 floods.

Conditions are serious enough statewide that Idaho Gov. Phil Batt declared a disaster area for the entire state Monday. He declared Kootenai, Bonner, Shoshone and Clearwater counties disaster areas on Sunday.

Water was expected to continue to rise at both Pend Oreille and Priest lakes this week. Priest Lake residents had called for volunteers to help sandbag in Coolin and elsewhere around the lake.

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