Wild week of weather ushers spring into Whitman County

Flood workers went into action Monday and Tuesday as area rivers and streams hit high water marks.

Persistent, heavy rain added to one of the soggiest Marches on record and brought on minor flooding in Colfax, Palouse, Pullman and Moscow.

The NRCS rain readings for March as of Tuesday have totaled 3.16 inches. March record is 4.10 in 1983. Two years ago the gauge measured .88, the record low.

Weather service records at Pullman now have March at 3.52 inches, the fifth wettest on record. Top mark of 4.08 was set in 1950.

Predictions of more rain through Saturday suggest a run will be made on those records.

The rain followed a few inches of snow which fell Wednesday into Thursday of last week, March 21-22. Warmer temperatures this week melted snow from highlands, which helped swell rivers to their banks.

Even after rains subsided Monday, water pumps had to be put to use on the North Flat of Colfax as runoff flooded storm drains.

City of Colfax workers Monday spotted a garden shed floating down the N. Fork on the way to the ice breaker upstream from the Y intersection.

The city’s pumps went into action Monday on the North Flat to move surface water from the street drains into the channel of the North Fork of the Palouse. Gates on the river dike system have been closed to keep the high level of the river from flooding back into the storm drains system of the flat. With the gates closed, the city has to use pumps to get the water into the river channel.

Upstream, water flooded across the N. Palouse River Road at the entrance to the Red Tail Ridge Road. The city last year installed rock “barbs” along the river bank at that point to cut erosion. The barbs appeared to be doing their job over the weekend, but they went out of view as the water flowed across the road.

Water at Palouse reached its typical mark of the city’s maintenance shop on the east end of Main Street and spilled into Hayton Green Park on the city’s west end.

High water flow mark for the N. Palouse at the Potlatch gauge was 16.64 feet just after midnight. That is in the moderate flooding range on the river. Major flooding is charted at 17 feet or higher.

The 16.64 high mark reading just after midnight makes it the ninth highest crest for the N. Palouse. Top mark for the river is 22.15 Feb. 9 in the 1996 flood which inundated downtown Palouse.

Paradise Creek at the University of Idaho hit 10 feet which is over the 8.8 level charted for minor flooding. The record for Paradise Creek between Pullman and Moscow is 11.3 feet.

The S. Fork of the Palouse River at Pullman hit a 6.96 foot high mark Monday morning. That mark puts it in the minor flooding range.

Water flow levels Tuesday morning were 14.73 on the North Fork, 3.83 on the South Fork and 6.95 on Paradise Creek.

Phil Meyer, maintenance operations manager for Whitman County’s public works department, reported almost no flood problems.