Crews clean after heavy rain floods Chubbuck homes

Less than an hour into Friday’s flash flood in Bannock County, half of Pocatello was seemingly underwater.

That water made its way to Chubbuck and flooded dozens of apartments and homes.

The puddles are scattered reminders of a night full of chaos after nearly 12 feet of water flooded Bannock County.

12 apartments in Chubbuck’s Diamond Court complex were hit by the flooding.

“It had come a couple of feet into their living room in some cases,” said Joshua Austin with On The Spot Cleaning. “We had a couple of cases where it went clear throughout the living room and into the kitchen. Some were worse than others.”

Crews said the water took the decorative rocks in front of every apartment and moved them down to the drain, preventing any of the water from getting through.

So when people opened their front doors, water came into their apartments.

On The Spot Cleaning handed out hundreds of fans to apartment owners to help dry their carpet.

“They’re high-powered, centrifical fans,” said Austin. “They move air really fast to increase the speed of the drying.”

Besides the apartments, a home just minutes away had more to worry about than just water.

Last night, around 6 inches of mud broke through a downstairs window and covered the basement.

“We’re shoveling it out and taking it out by buckets and we’ll get rid of it that way,” said Donnie Lindsay with On The Spot Cleaning. “Then we’ll have some cleaning equipment that’ll come through and clean out the mess afterwards.”

Crews said the house will take a couple of days to clean.

The carpets in the apartment complex should be dry by Monday.

On The Spot Cleaning said if your carpet got wet from Friday’s flooding, it’s likely salvageable.

Because it’s only rain water, the carpet can be cleaned but the padding underneath will have to be replaced.

Crews make calls 24/7 and offer free advice and estimates.