Flood warning issued for Lake County

LAKE COUNTY — The National Weather Service put Lake County in Flood Warning stage as of Tuesday afternoon, predicting additional rainfall and snowmelt runoff will lead to significant flooding across Northwest Montana and Idaho this week.

“Small creeks that drain from the Mission Mountains will be causing flood issues in the next few days,” NWS hydrologist Ray Nickless said Tuesday. “Narrower streams and rivers will more than likely see a lot of debris as well as culverts getting clogged in many of the smaller streams.”

On Monday, Flathead Lake’s elevation was still two feet below full pool, but some areas of the Mission Mountain Range received up to eight inches of new snow this past week, a half-inch of precipitation Monday and experts predict an additional half-to-one-inch to fall in the Missions through Wednesday night. With minimum temperatures through Wednesday morning averaging a mild 44 degrees, even the highest peaks should remain above freezing overnight.

“So far we have not had any significant flooding, but have had some stream flows pick up,” Gordon Wind, manager of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, said Monday. “We’re expecting flows to pick up coming out of all those streams and probably see peak flows this week or within two weeks.”

According to Lake County Emergency Management officer Steve Stanley, the county gathers information from all its agencies and the Tribes daily, logging a record to keep the commissioners up to speed and avoid wasting resources on both the county and tribal sides.

“Things have been pretty quiet,” Stanley said Friday. “But they are going to pick up with the rain that we’re getting and the warm temperatures we’re expecting.”

Lake County Sheriff’s Office received calls about flooding at Hellroaring Dam on Thursday and twice last week responded to flooding along MT Highway 35 at mile markers 4 and 25. Around noon Friday, Hellroaring crept into the Level 1 stage for the third time this season, Wind said, meaning water is flowing over its banks. It advanced into the Level 2 watch stage as of Tuesday morning.

“Hellroaring Dam has been pouring over the spillway, but it’s built for that,” Wind said. “We have been really fortunate not to have an excessive amount to this point.”

According to Wind, Mission Dam and McDonald Reservoir have been held at about half capacity in anticipation of more runoff.

“We knew more was coming and we wanted to have some surge-catching capacity,” he said. “We’re crossing our fingers that there won’t be significant damage. We will continue to open our outlet gates to allow the water to come through.”

In the Jocko area, the flows are picking up, but we have not had any flooding per se, Wind said.

The Camas area reservoirs have been holding steady with a lot of water, and Hubbart Dam had water spilling over the top, but it’s designed for that.

“It’s actually a pretty unique thing to see,” Wind said.

For up-to-date flooding information, visit http://www.wrh.noaa.gov and check www.leaderadvertiser.com for updates as they become available.