Weiser River came close to minor flood stage

While vast expanses of the country are experiencing some harsh winter conditions, last week’s generous rainfall in the Treasure Valley, along with Saturday’s, Jan. 4, 48-degree temperatures pushed the Weiser River to crest at 9.32 feet around 12:30 p.m. Minor flood stage at the official National Weather Service hydrologic measuring site east of Weiser is 9.5 feet.  

 Less precipitation this week and temperatures dropping below freezing at night has tightened up run off, while daytime temperatures have continued to climb and range in the low to upper 30s.

 Reporting to the Washington County Commissioners Monday, Jan. 6, Road and Bridge Supervisor Jerod Odoms said his crews had gone out on New Year Day and into the next. 

 “There was a pretty good melt through the day, but I measured upwards of 8 to 9 inches of snow in other spots through the county,” Odoms said. 

 “The biggest concern was the melt that came in afterwards,” Odoms reported. “We did have some minor flooding in several spots where water puddled over the road. The Weiser River canyon had several large boulders that broke free, with some minor sliding that happened there.”

 Odoms said one of the boulders was as big as the backhoe bucket.

 “We did end up cleaning up those and I’ve got two crews going out today (Monday),” he added. “We had some (slides) out on Monroe Creek, as well. It was clear to the bottom of a power pole, so Idaho Power is going to be on that today, then we’re going to clean the borrow ditches out.”

 Odoms said some crews were going out to inspect the roads around the Paddock Fire burn area.

 “That’s a concern with all of this flooding that we can have some real mud and drainage issues out there,” Odoms said. “But, the weather looks like it’s going to calm down for a little bit, it’s going to give us a chance to take care of things like that. Plus, we’re going to do some gravel road pothole patching. 

 “The canyon is pretty bad,” he said. “When I was out there looking at a culvert the other day, we’ve got several bridges on gravel roads that have some pretty good potholes in them we need to get repaired before we cause some damage to vehicles. So, that kind of work is what we’re working on right now.”