Flood threat imminent, local officials
predict
|
| June 1, 2011 |
Boundary County Commissioners met today with
both state and local emergency managers, learned
why the county was excluded from a recent
presidential emergency declaration, and heard
that while the county has dodged the flooding
bullet thus far, it's still very likely that
this will be a "watershed" year for what could
well be historic flooding.
 Jay
Baker, Idaho Homeland Security, explained to
county commissioners the reason why Boundary
County, one of six Idaho counties to have
suffered significant damage in floods and slides
that hit due to rain and runoff in late March
and early April, and to have been declared under
a state disaster declaration issued by Governor
Butch Otter, wasn't included in President Barack
Obama's national declaration, issued May 27.
Three county roads; Deep Creek Loop, Lions Den
Road and Fleming Creek Road, suffered
significant damage.
"After the state declaration, state and federal
teams came in to assess the damage, and based on
those assessments, Boundary County met the
criteria of economic need for FEMA assistance,"
Baker said. "But in the assessment of who is the
responsible federal agency, it was determined
that the damages for Deep Creek Loop and Lions
Den Road fell under federal highway programs.
The damage to Fleming Creek Road by itself was
not enough to trigger FEMA eligibility."
"Now just a minute," commission chair Ron Smith
said. "There have been public reports that the
state might have inadvertently left Boundary
County off it declaration request to the federal
government, that it might have been an oversight
somewhere along the line."
"No, commissioner," Baker said. "The county and
state followed all protocol. Boundary County was
not included for the reason I just said."
While the justification came as a bit of relief,
county road superintendent Jeff Gutshall brought
a little clearer perspective ... we know the
federal government will help fix these roads,
but we don't know when.
"Federal roads accepted responsibility, but they
haven't budgeted," Gutshall said. "We don't know
when funding will become available."
After that bit of "good" news, emergency
incident commander Bob Graham gave a rather
unsettling report.
"We've been fortunate in that we haven't seen
any major flooding yet," he said. "I'm afraid
that's going to change."
Adding to the unsettling prospect is that both
he and Boundary County Emergency Incident
Director Dave Kramer are both going to be out of
town right when the potential threat is highest,
Graham to participate in a class, Kramer to run
in a Special Olympics event in Greece.
Both made arrangements long in advance, both
knowing that in most years, the threat of flood
in Boundary County is typically over by June 1.
Not this year, Graham said.
"The operators at Libby Dam have been doing a
good job so far," he said. "But they are running
out of room. It's not so much what is happening
at the lake that's going to affect us, it's
what's happening downstream, on the Fisher, the
Yaak, the Moyie. And not only is there still a
lot of snow at mid and high levels that would
normally have melted by now, we're still adding
to the snow pack."
State models, he said, take into account only
the state.
"They don't look at what's happening in Canada,
or in Montana," he said. "They only look at
Idaho. When you look at what's going on in the
mountains up north and to the east, there's a
lot of water coming our way that they're not
factoring in."
With weather forecasts calling for more rain in
the next few days, followed by an abrupt warmup,
he said, Boundary County is at high risk.
"The heaviest impact is going to hit farmers,"
he said. "They're already seeing seepage and
water tables rising to the surface. I have
little doubt that they're going to see a bad
year, and I think it's going to really start in
about a week from now."
Boundary County placed over 10,000 sandbags and
sand early this season in strategic places in
anticipation of flooding, and in many places,
both bags and sand are nearly gone as residents
and property owners gird for rising water.
Gutshall assured that those places will be
restocked.
"Based on what I know, I predict that we'll
probably be okay this week," Graham said. "Next
week is a different story."
While Graham and Kramer are gone, Commissioner
Dan Dinning, with assistance from other county
employees, will take over the monitoring of the
several times daily updates on river levels, and
Boundary County will not lapse in its obligation
to protect lives and property.
As always, however, the county will depend
heavily on information from those most affected,
as well as the understanding that, should
predictions prove right, there will be a lot of
questions from a lot of people ... those
affected, the families and friends of those
affected and the media.
In the event of an actual emergency, where a
life is at stake, the first number to call, as
always, is 911. Where service is available,
those calls go immediately to sheriff's dispatch
and take precedence, summoning appropriate help. In places where 911
isn't available, most often on cell, the call is
relayed to an adjacent jurisdiction, be it
Sandpoint or Creston, B.C., and dispatchers
there will help.
If an emergency exists and 911 doesn't work, call (208) 267-3151,
extension 0. That will connect you directly to
the sheriffs dispatcher.
If, however, you're just worried, please do not
call the sheriff's office just to find out
what's going on, as dispatchers can't tell you
and they're likely to be busy, and
perhaps a bit terse.
Instead, visit
www.boundarycountyid.org ... the county
information officer will post the latest
emergency information as it develops.
That news will be sent simultaneously to all
local media so as to get reliable information
out fast.
Instead of calling the Sheriff's Office for
general information on matters not dire, call
(208) 267-7212 to reach the county public
information office. |
|
Questions or comments?
Click here
to email!
|
|
|
