Flood — Lincoln, Washington

2014-02-12 to 2014-02-14 · near Crescent, Lincoln, Washington

Event narrative

Numerous areas across Lincoln County dealt with flooding between the 12th and 14th. Some sections of highways that were flooded include SR 23 between mileposts 57 and 60 south of Harrington, SR 231 between mileposts 36 and 42 near Reardon, SR 231 between mileposts 18 and 19 near Edwall, SR 25 between Davenport and Lake Roosevelt, and SR 21 between mileposts 57 and 60 near Harrington. A creek that runs through the middle of the Edwall flooded the Post Office and adjacent businesses with one to two feet of water. Edwall-Reardon school district was forced to delay school openings because buses were struggling to navigate muddy dirt roads. A tech company located on SR 231 reported 30 inches of water flooded its manufacturing facility. Fortunately, the staff was able to get all valuable equipment off the floor before the flood waters entered.

Wider weather episode

Numerous areas across the Idaho Panhandle dealt with flooding during the second week of February. While minor flooding is a common occurrence during the late winter months when warmer temperatures, wind, and rain fall on valley snowpack, there was one ingredient of this event that made it unique and rather intense for many locations. This was the intrusion of two Arctic air masses; one in December and one in February. These bitterly cold air masses arrived in the absence of valley snow pack and froze the ground hard and deep. Shortly after the second Arctic air mass, snow began falling across the region with anywhere between six and twelve inches of valley snowfall. Then came an atmospheric river. This drove temperatures and dewpoints above freezing, led to windy conditions, and brought moderate to heavy rainfall. Nearly all the valley snowpack melted in a span of 24 hours. Due to the rock hard ground, rain and snow melt could not percolate into the frozen ground equating to nearly 100 percent runoff. This led to big problems in hilly terrain, low spots, and areas susceptible to poor drainage. Some school districts were forced to delay school because buses were unable to navigate muddy or flooded back roads.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.7967, -117.7954)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 499244. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.