Floods on the Palouse

—Brenton Cammack photo

Water streams down Canyon street as machinery tried to move it away from downtown buildings in Colfax on Feb. 12.

Warm air on a “pineapple express” front hit a deep snow from the previous weekend to overload the drain systems on roads and towns around the county. The quick melt on frozen ground caused flooding and property damage in many locations in the county.

At Colfax, where state crews worked late Monday to remove a problem culvert installation on Canyon Street hill before the predicted melt, the wall of water took a big toll in a short period of time.

Geyser blast at Colfax

Colfax was hit with a downtown flood just after 10:30 a.m. last Wednesday when runoff water from melting snow put the Colfax street drain system on overload. The flood hit several business basements along Main Street and diverted highway traffic.

The storm water hit via the drainage ditch along the Palouse highway grade where state crews worked Monday night to remove a culvert installation which was blamed for two previous floods along the highway this winter.

Mayor Todd Vanek and other city officials believe the problems with the drain system stem from rocks which were left in the ditch after the culvert was removed. The wall of water which came down the ditch moved the ballast rocks into the city’s big drain beneath Canyon Street and plugged it, the mayor contends. (see Bulletin column, page 7).

City crews were first dispatched to the big storm drain entry next to the southeast corner of the Methodist Church. Crew members at first worked to keep the drain entry clear of the rocks and debris and then attempted to sandbag around the top of the drain face to keep the water out of the street.

The tactic failed when a geyser of brown water erupted from a manhole lower on Canyon, across from the Bliss shop. Water pressure in the over-loaded culvert pushed off the cover and water gushed straight up at a height of more than four feet. The backup of water soon led to an overflow at the drain face.

Water flowed down Canyon to Main Street and down Main Street and Mill Street. It also led to a torrent of water down the east alley between Canyon and Spring streets.

Business owners and volunteers worked to clean snow and debris off drain covers along Main and Mill streets. Some of the drains were still covered by snow piles left over from the weekend.

City crews placed sandbags out from the corner of Canyon and Main to direct water across Main toward the S. Palouse River channel. Traffic from Main Street was diverted to Mill Street while the sandbags were extended out across Main.

After the water subsided, the sandbags were “stocked” along the corner in case another runoff episode hits.

One of the worst hit businesses was US Bank which was hit by water via the stairs on the alley. The water went into the basement and flooded out the bank’s heating system which led to closure for the rest of the day. Supplies stored in the basement were also damaged. The bank was back in business Feb. 13.

Water also went into the basement of the Team Stores building, the former J.C. Penney building, on the corner of Canyon and Main. The water poured into the building’s basement through the cover of a former coal chute in the sidewalk along Canyon Street.

A small amount of water entered the basement room of the library. Members of the library staff worked with snow shovels to clear gaps in the flood control walls so the runoff pouring down the west alley could drop into the river.

Sandbags placed by the city crews kept water from entering back entrances at Tick Klock and other businesses along the street.

County roads hit

Three of the county’s paved arterials which were closed Feb. 13 by runoff flood were the Hume, Warner and Seabury roads in the northeast corner of the county. All three roads were opened to traffic as of the morning of Feb. 13, but some were only open to one lane traffic.

Whitman County Public Works operations manager Phil Meyer said the Steptoe Canyon Road down to the river south of Colton sustained heavy damage in the runoff and was closed.

The combination of a lot of snow, high temperatures and frozen ground resulted in water overflows at some point on many of the roads in the county system. County crews have been out at many locations to clear mud and debris left on roads after the water receded.

St John/Endicott schools and Garfield/Palouse schools limited bus routes to paved roads only the next morning.

State Highway 23 from St. John north to Sprague was closed down by the state Department of Transportation because of flooding. The highway was re-opened Feb. 13, but down to one lane.

Extensive flooding was reported in flats along the highway at Ewan.

One lane of State Highway 271 north of Oakesdale was also closed off because of flooding.

Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack said on Tuesday that Hume Road is still one lane and that there are one lane roads all over the county.

State roads hit

Al Gilson, communications manager of the state Department of Transporta-tion Eastern Region, said several sections of highway were hit with the Palouse grade flooding at Colfax possibly the worst.

Highway 195 had mud and water on the road and Uniontown was hit the worst with lots of water in the town.

“No roadway ditch could handle all the water,” he said.

Water from farm fields ran over multiple road locations between the Idaho border to the county line, Gilson said.

On SR 194, Pullman to Almota, water and mud washed over the roadway five miles east of Pullman, and on SR 127, Dusty to Central Ferry, water and mud went onto the road about one mile south of Dusty.

Sections of roads in and out of Oakesdale disappeared under water and mud, Gilson said. SR 27 that runs from Pullman to Spokane, and SR 271 from Oakesdale to Rosalia also had water and mud on the road in several places.

From Steptoe to Sprague, the road was closed for 12 hours as crews mopped up mud and water off the road.

Gilson said crews continue to do major cleanup in multiple locations.

Oakesdale

Water came into Oakesdale Feb. 12 around the lunch hour.

“It was just, boom,” said Tom Crooks, Oakesdale city councilman and business owner, who had water seep into his insurance agency.

Across from his office on Highway 27, the water quickly threatened Crossett’s Market and city hall.

“You couldn’t see the highway at all in front of me,” said City Clerk Mary DeGon.

The water flooded down Steptoe Street, beginning by overflowing a drainage ditch along the Oakesdale-Thornton Road.

“The culvert couldn’t handle it and it went over the road,” DeGon said.

Water spread down the street and past the fire station, the library, the Co-Ag office and Larry’s Service Station.

Soon Oakesdale Public Works Director Bob Hooper arrived with a backhoe with a scoop filled with sand. Volunteers hurried to put it in bags and deposit them in front of storefronts.

At Crossett’s Market, on the corner of Highway 27 and Steptoe Street, the water approached the entry doors before workers and others took brooms to it, sweeping it away and around the corner. Oakesdale High School students came down and helped, some using snow shovels and another on a four-wheeler with a blade, all pushing water around the corner, where it flowed away, eventually into a ditch.

“Just a nice effort from the community,” said Crossett’s Market owner Mike Crossett. “It was amazing how many brooms just started showing up.”

“People just started coming down to help us,” said DeGon. “All that snow melted too fast, it’s all runoff from fields. It was flash flooding, there was no warning.”

While the water was held back from the market, across the street at Crook’s insurance agency, it dampened carpet in every room.

“It could’ve been a lot worse (in town),” said Crooks. “It’s the first time it’s ever crept up that much that I’ve seen.”

Crooks has been in that office for 35 years.

“We managed to keep it out of (Crossett’s Market), that was a big deal,” said Crooks.

Once the main danger was over in town, back at the insurance office, the water dried up from using heat and fans.

“It dried up pretty well, so I was lucky,” Crooks said. “Overall, the response from the people of Oakesdale was just phenomenal.”

Uniontown

Floodwaters crossed one lane of SR 195 at the south end of Uniontown on Feb. 12, from the new Palouse Rolling Hills subdivision to Holzer Park.

Public Works Director Andy McCann said the water was runoff from fields to the west.

He worked to open drains but it had no initial impact.

“The problem was the creek was the same level as the water on the road,” he said.

As the water crept into town, it got close to the Green Cottage Antiques store but sandbags were not needed,

“The creek finally crested, then subsided and was able to take water back in,” McCann said.

There were reports around town of water seeping into a few basements and garages.

One of the basements was in the home of City Clerk Linda Devorak, who said that two inches of water got in through a doorway when iced-over utility drains under a deck blocked water from draining out.

The water was discovered on the basement concrete floor before it got into any sheetrock.

Now that the waters have receded in Uniontown, McCann said he will be grading out ruts in gravel roads, such as the road at the cemetery and West Union Road.

“These are town roads which field water found to drain on,” he said.

McCann said he last saw flooding like this in Uniontown in the 1970s.

Colton escapes

Aside from about a 30-foot section of McKinley Street in town, no water got out of where it was supposed to be in Colton.

“The streams were running full, but the culverts handled the load,” said Steve Bremer, Colton Public Works Director.

No damage was reported.