Flood — Franklin, Washington

2017-02-21 · near Sagehill, Franklin, Washington

Event narrative

Mild temperatures February 9 -13 allowed an initial snow melt and heavy rain caused rapid melting and increased runoff across Franklin County. This area had a snow pack of 5-10 inches on February 15, with much of it melted by February 21. Rain amounts of 0.50 to 0.75 were seen on February 16 and temperatures remained above freezing through February 22 with additional rain amounts of 0.50 to 1.00 inches on February 21-22. Numerous county roads had washouts, erosion, slides and undermining. In Connell, the ground was saturated with the melting snow pack and heavy rain to the north of town ( Lind, Washington had about 1 inch of rain over the 2 day period, February 15 and 16). The Esquatzel Coulee at Connell was over-topped with water and ice running through streets. A large sinkhole/erosion area was noted near Eltopia. Damage is estimated at 3 million dollars for Franklin County, for mainly roads.

Wider weather episode

Rapid melting of low elevation snow pack with heavy rain cause flooding across portions of southeast Washington.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.6990, -119.2797)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 683400. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.