Winter weather causes problems across all of Idaho

The Idaho winter of 2016-2017 seems like a blast from the past. After years of mild winters, this year is more like something Idaho saw 10 or 20 years ago.

The Gem State is experiencing snow, rain, ice, wind and now flooding. The flooding is the biggest concern for many areas. The National Weather Service says our recent warm temperatures have allowed the snow to melt, but storm drains are covered and the water has nowhere to go.

In Cassia County, commissioners have declared a state of emergency because of flooding throughout the county. Water has entered homes west Highway 81 near Malta. Many streets in Oakley are under water as well.

Burley is no exception to the flooding in the county.

“[I’ve] been here 30 years and this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened,” said Adam Boehler, whose home was threatened by the floodwaters.

The Cassia County Sheriff’s Office is working with law enforcement from individual cities to keep the flood damage at a minimum.

In the Eastern Idaho community of Rexburg, several streets in town are seeing ponding from the melting snow.

“It is kind of all over, hit and miss,” said Kevin Davidson, the city’s public works director

In some places, like the intersection of Carlson and College, the streets are so covered with water that walkers needed waders to get through it. Davidson says he has crews out to remove the snow from storm drains giving the water a place to flow.

“Our crews are going around to open up the storm drain inlets,” Davidson said. “We have quite a few so they can’t get to all of them in a real timely manner, so it takes some time to get them cleaned out.”

Flooding isn’t the current issue in the city of Idaho Falls. The public works department there is working to remove slush from the roads after the recent thaw.

“As vehicles drive over that they’ll actually wear down to the paved surface, and so as it’s warm today we want to get out here and move as much of this out of the road way as we can to make safer driving conditions for folks who live in the areas that have narrow streets,” said Public Works Director Chris Frederickson.

Idaho Falls crews will plow north and south streets in Zone A between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Thursday. A snow ordinance is in effect, meaning all cars must be removed from city streets.

Salmon city leaders are preparing for the possibility of flooding due to ice jams. The BLM Salmon Field Office has already closed portions of Shoup Bridge Recreation Site and Morgan Bar Campground. The BLM says both areas are under water because of the jams along the Salmon and Lemhi Rivers.

In Western Idaho, potholes are the headache for westbound I-84 drivers near Nampa. Portions of the interstate were shut down because of potholes.

“I did see those. I hit a couple of those,” one driver said. “They are some pretty big potholes.”

People living in Ketchum are currently being told to shelter in place or voluntarily evacuate after an avalanche there.

The problem behind all of these issues is so much snow in a short amount of time.
A new federal report shows snowpack levels and water supply projections are above average in the mountains of eastern Idaho and across much of the state.

Snowpack measurements in central Idaho were right around average, while southern Idaho ranged between 97 and 132 percent of median snowpack levels.