NorthwestMarch 27, 2012

Overnight downpour puts several area towns on flood alert

Workers with the city of Moscow use heavy equipment to navigate the high water Monday at the Intersection of Highland Drive and Bridge Street as Paradise Creek continued to overflow its banks.
Workers with the city of Moscow use heavy equipment to navigate the high water Monday at the Intersection of Highland Drive and Bridge Street as Paradise Creek continued to overflow its banks.Tribune/Kyle Mills
Monday’s commute proved treacherous for drivers in Moscow as water erupts from a manhole cover flooding low areas near Washington Street.
Monday’s commute proved treacherous for drivers in Moscow as water erupts from a manhole cover flooding low areas near Washington Street.Tribune/Kyle Mills
The South Fork of the Palouse River engulfs homes and businesses on the south side of Moscow.
The South Fork of the Palouse River engulfs homes and businesses on the south side of Moscow.Tribune/Kyle Mills

MOSCOW - After living 16 years in a low spot adjacent to an unruly creek, 77-year-old Glen Warmbier said Monday that he's learned to appreciate city crews armed with sandbags and his own fleet of reliable pumps.

"I called the city this morning at a quarter to 6 and said the water is coming up fast," said Warmbier, who lives with his wife, Ellie, at the corner of Bridge Street and Hillcrest Drive in the east part of town.

That's where Paradise Creek always rears its ugly head first, confirmed Tyler Palmer of the Moscow city public works department. "The resident there is really a nice guy. He acts as eyes and ears for us when water is coming up. He understands that creek quite well."

Fueled by almost an inch of overnight rain and snow melting off Moscow Mountain, the creek crested in late morning at 10 feet - about 1.2 feet above flood stage. Palmer said the level was fourth highest since 1979.

It was high enough to lap at or near a number of homes and buildings along the creek and keep city crews busy filling, delivering and placing sandbags throughout the morning in strategic spots. The South Fork of the Palouse River also posed problems enough for sandbagging on the southern end of two manufactured home courts.

"We flat had some water down here," said resident Lynne Whisner. "It was unreal." But no water made into any homes, she said.

The weather forecast is for more rain today, mixed with possible snow, but not as much moisture as fell Monday. Despite less precipitation expected, the National Weather Service in Spokane extended a flood warning to run until early this morning in Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Asotin, Garfield and Whitman counties.

In Pullman on Monday, the South Fork forced the closure of a pedestrian bridge near Pine Street in the downtown area. "We were expecting it to be pushed or float off (its supports), which it is designed to do," said Public Works Director Mark Workman, "but the flood waters never did get to that force."

Workman also reported minor flooding on Grand Avenue, but no damage was reported. Elsewhere in Whitman County, officials reported swollen streams and water across a number of rural roads, but little or no damage as of Monday afternoon.

It was a similar story in rural Latah County, with reports of some flooding on Cow Creek near Genesee and flooding at the Juliaetta ball fields.

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Moscow, officials confirmed, received the brunt of the flooding - enough for Mayor Nancy Chaney to issue a local disaster emergency proclamation warning of "imminent danger of flooding" that could threaten life and property.

Throughout the morning, a number of houses and buildings along Paradise Creek were threatened, with a few, like the Warmbier home and some of their neighbors' homes, within inches of serious damage.

"It had about 2 inches to go and then it would have come over the (sandbag) walls," Glen Warmbier said. Even then, water was leaking through the makeshift dike and four pumps were needed to suck up the excess and pitch it back into the creek.

"I lived on a river in Oregon until I retired in 1995. So I'm used to fighting it," Warmbier said, adding that he'll maintain a vigil throughout the night and possibly the rest of the week. "There's a lot more snow up on that mountain."

The three other times since 1979 that Paradise Creek crested higher was in January of 1990 and 1997, and in February 1996 when the region experienced widespread flooding due to a combination of frozen ground followed by heavy snowfall, then torrential rain accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures.

"The problem with Paradise Creek is that it's just so erratic," Palmer said. "It's just so hard to forecast what's going to happen, and to respond to it, because it can come down so fast."

Warmbier said he'll be ready. "I got another big pump coming. I have never had it flooded in the house."

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Johnson may be contacted at djohnson@lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.

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