Flash flood water recedes

PALOUSE — City Public Works Superintendent Mike Wolf said Tuesday, June 21, that flood waters have receded and life is returning to normal.

He was talking about water from the flash flooding that occured a week earlier (on June 14) following heavy rains.

Palouse park clean up Saturday, June 18, went well, he said.

“There was a tree that split at the trunk, and we’ve got to get that out of there,” he said. “Other than that, everything is looking good.”

The water started receding about 8 p.m. June 14.

“It was about 11.5 feet in Potlach,” Wolf said on last Wednesday. “It takes 5-6 hours to reach Palouse.”

Palouse last flooded three years ago in a flash flood. There was also a big flood in 1996.

“This was a lot deeper than the flash flood,” Wolf said. “That came up so quick and then away. This should take a couple days to recede.”

According to Wolf, the Public Works Office was also flooded June 15.

“Our shop flooded into our office,” he said, noting staff cleaned up that morning. “0.95 percent of stuff was on the west end of Main Street.”

Near the shop, the flood water didn’t quite connect from the shop to the river.

At the time, Wolf said they were waiting for the water to go down to assess any damage.

The Public Works Department worked hard last week to fight the high flood water, and has succeeded at minimizing it’s impact, he said.

The Lion’s Club park also flooded, but the water receded their last week, as well.

“It was gone probably around Thursday or Friday morning,” he said. “We have to clean up the park equipment, but everything is going good.”

While flood waters appeared to reach homes, none were actually flooded, he said.

“No houses got water inside the structure,” he said.

Colfax and Tekoa also sustained some minor flooding.

The Colfax Golf Course flooded June 15, after water from the rising Palouse River spilled over the banks.

Course Superintendent Ken Arthur confirmed that the river started rising June 14.

“We’ll just let it dry up when it recedes, and clean it up,” he said.

He also noted this is the first time since 1998 that water has come over on the bank from the river.

People could be seen golfing later Wednesday afternoon.

In Tekoa, Upper Hangman Creek also flooded.

A city park and its amenities and picnic tables were submerged for a day.