Spokane gets soaked again

A downpour Sunday afternoon brought hail and soaking rains to many parts of the Spokane area Sunday evening.

But city officials said they weren’t aware of significant flooding problems with city streets.

Still, the Washington Department of Transportation shared images online of standing water on Interstate 90 near Freya Street, and warned motorists to drive for conditions.

Parts of the South Hill, east Spokane and Spokane Valley received about 0.4 to 0.6 inches of rain in about a half hour, said meteorologist Ken Daniel, of the National Weather Service’s Spokane office.

The weather service recorded more than a half inch at Felts Field in east Spokane.

Public Works Director Marlene Feist said city crews didn’t have any dramatic street flooding to deal with in the storm’s aftermath. Last week, city workers cleaned out storm drains where street flooding could have been more problematic.

She said mud flowed onto a couple streets in northwest Spokane in the Indian Trial area. Crews will clean that up on Monday, she said.

The weather service issued multiple severe thunderstorm warnings in Eastern Washington and North Idaho on Sunday, but none were issued in Spokane County. A flash flood warning was issued on Sunday for a portion of northern Spokane County.

Avista Utilities reported power outages in the Chewelah and Rice area affecting 260 customers.

Feist said that only two of the city’s 20 combined sewer overflow pipes overflowed into the Spokane River, a decent performance considering the amount of rain that fell in a short period.

The city has installed multiple tanks in the last two decades that prevent storm water from overwhelming sewers causing sewage to flow into the river untreated.

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.