County continues to grapple with flooding

SANDPOINT — Sandbagging efforts are under way in Bonner County to keep rising creeks and rivers from threatening property.

A squad of inmate workers were deployed to Trestle Creek Tuesday to fortify a sandbag line shielding Jeb & Margaret’s Trailer Haven from flood waters. Landowners on the Priest River near McAbee Falls have also mobilized a sandbag brigade to keep flood waters at bay, said Bob Howard, the county’s director of Emergency Management.

“There’s still some stream problems, but we’re working through them,” Howard said on Wednesday.

Howard said empty sandbags and sand are being stockpiled at fire district stations in Bonner County so landowners can use them if flood waters threaten their homes.

“We started at 20,000 (sandbags) and we’re probably down to 17,000,” he said.

In other developments on Wednesday, Gov. Butch Otter added Boundary County to the list of flooding disaster emergency areas. The declaration, which Bonner County is already under, allows counties to get additional support from the state to cope with flood-related problems.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reiterating a warning advising boaters to keep clear of the Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River. The corps opened the spill gates on May 16 to maximize river flow. The inflow at the dam was measured at 106,000 cubic feet per second on Wednesday.

The dam’s outflow was running at about 73,000 cfs and is expected to reach 90,000 cfs by the holiday weekend. As a result, boaters are being urged to stay away from the dam.

The corps kept Lake Pend Oreille at its winter pool elevation longer than usual to provide room for the late snowmelt.

Meanwhile, Montana Rail Link crews continue to scramble to protect railroad infrastructure on the lake’s north shore. A train-mounted crane shuttled between Clark Fork and Trestle Creek this week to combat bed loading beneath bridges so water could continue to pass.

But some of the work along the rail line is raising questions. A couple west of Clark Fork said a beaver dam was breached, which drained wetlands next to Highway 200 by as much as 5 feet.

Mitch Martin acknowledges the importance of protecting the infrastructure, but doubts the beaver dam was adding to the flooding.

“There’s no doubt this beaver dam was on their property. There’s no doubt, after talking to the Corps of Engineers, that they have a right to remove it. I’m not arguing about laws and rights; I’m just saying, ‘Guys, we didn’t need to (remove it),’” said Martin.

Martin said he’s mainly interested in seeing if the wetlands can be restored.

Calls to corps officials in Coeur d’Alene late Wednesday yielded no response.