Family working to prevent field flood from getting inside home

A field in Shelley has turned into a makeshift lake, and it’s spilled over to multiple homes, causing flooding problems.

“We just built this house a year ago. I’ve never experienced flooding. This is my first experience. It’s been different,” Jacob Schuldt said.

A farmer’s field to the north of Schuldt’s house flooded quickly Tuesday afternoon. The water is about 20 inches deep on the driveway and more than two feet at the deepest point.

The family was outside Wednesday with their backhoe trying to prevent the water from reaching the house. Schuldt fears the flooding is going to get worse, especially since the area flooded within hours.

“I was out here 4 p.m. and there was no water over the driveway. My wife came home at 6:30 p.m. and she was pushing water with the bumper of her car. Then I came back home at 9:30 p.m. and it was to the bottom of my truck,” Schuldt said.

As of now, the flood has only touched part of the garage.

“So far, we don’t have any damage. We got some water leakage in the crawlspace, but we were able to get that stopped. We were just concerned about it getting into the garage,” Schuldt said.

Tuesday night, Schuldt and several neighbors tried to stop this flooding from getting in.

“We went and bought some shelves to put everything in the garage up on shelves — get it off the floor. We had some sand brought in to build a dike so the farmer’s field couldn’t keep draining to our lot,” Schuldt said.

And Wednesday morning, all the family can do is use their backhoe. Five feet below the ground and through the frost line there’s gravel. They’re hoping that this will help drain some of the water.

“We’re at ease a little bit, but we’re still concerned about the rain and snow coming,” Schuldt said.

It’s not just Schuldt’s house that’s facing flooding problems. About three other homes in the area have some water damage. One viewer told KIFI/KIDK that his daughter and grandkids live next door to Schuldt. He said they can’t live inside the home at this time.

Because there is so much flooding in the area, Bingham County is expanding its sandbag assistance. Sandbags — free to county residents — are available at the Shelley Fire Station. There are sandbags at the city lot in Firth behind Collets Bar. And in Blackfoot, sand bags will be at Morland Park.