Downpour, flood take toll

A flash flood struck east and north of Oakesdale Saturday leaving a wake of silt and damaged crops.

Brian Crow’s 225-acre field was hit by the cloudburst, which concentrated on a two mile by half-mile area two miles north of the town.

“It pretty well hammered the whole thing,” he said of the field.

The water damaged Crow’s spring wheat, washing some of it down and covering other parts in silt.

“It’s kind of a bummer for timing,” he said. “You can’t re-seed. It’s gonna be mud two weeks from now.”

At RMK Farms a mile closer to Oakesdale, the damage was lighter.

“Some of our looser soils,” said employee Jim Rambo. “Like peas, some washed down. It could’ve been worse.”

County roads and Highway 27 were also affected as county crews were called out Sunday to do restoration work, with a more extensive effort needed later to restore the roads, according to Phil Meyer, operations manager of the Public Work Department.

Two paved roads hit by the storm were Seabury Road, linking Highway 27 with Fairbanks, and Warner Road which runs from Highway 27 south of Oakesdale east to the Tekoa-Farmington Road.

Highway 27 sustained extensive flooding in the segment between Oakesdale and Tekoa. State crews posted “water on the roadway” signs to warn motorists of the flooding.

One of the volunteer weather recorders for the NRCS reported a 3.75 reading on the gauge after the downfall hit along Highway 27 northeast of Oakesdale. The storm moved through between 5 and 7 p.m.

A reading at Oakesdale for the same time listed a reading of .93 inches in the short time span.

Late Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for northeastern Whitman County, including Rosalia, Tekoa, Oakesdale, Farmington and Belmont. The warning expired at 7:30 p.m.

Meyer said on Monday that all roads were open with warning signs posted. Gravel roads sustaining heavy damage were the Fanning, Pittmann and Doneen roads.

The heavy rainfall readings in the Oakesdale area Saturday night compare with a normal total reading of 1.8 inches for the month of May, according David Jones, NRCS weather recorder in Colfax.

“How much long-term crop damage, I don’t know,” Crow said. “A person will have to wait for harvest. It’s just disheartening to see that much soil go. But we’ll live to fight another day.”

The big day of rain at Colfax was booked May 13 with .55 of an inch on the NRCS gauge on the south hill. Reading on the gauge Monday morning was .10 for the weekend.