Flood — Pend Oreille, Washington

2018-05-11 to 2018-05-31 · near Metaline Falls, Pend Oreille, Washington

Event narrative

The USGS River Flow Gage at Abeni Falls Dam which controls the flow of the Pend Oreille River surpassed the Flood Flow of 95,000 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) at 2:30 PM PST on May 11th. The flow increased and passed through the Moderate Flood Flow of 115,000 CFS at 12:15 PM on May 18th. The flow continued to increase and peaked at the Moderate Flood reading of 121,000 CFS at at 5:00 AM on May 27th. The flow continued to fluctuate between 118,000 CFS and 121,000 CFS through the end of May. The flow receded to below the Flood Flow on June 6th.

Wider weather episode

An above average snow pack in the mountains drained by the Pend Oreille and Clark Fork River basins melted at an accelerated rate during the month of May. Run off from this snow melt caused the Pend Oreille River to achieve moderate flood level for an extended period of time from the middle of May through the first week of June.

Numerous homes along the river particularly between the towns of Newport and Jared suffered flooding. Inundated yards, recreation sites and first floor flooding of homes and buildings extended as far north as Ione. Water covered portions of Deeter, Sandy Shores, McCloud Creek, Yergens, Bear Paw and Davis Roads, and inundated the Sandy Shores neighborhood near Deeter Road.

Due to the high flow, cold water and debris in the channel, the Pend Oreille Sheriff's office closed the river to all recreation through the end of the month. Pend Oreille County was included in a State of Emergency Declaration by the Washington State Governor for this flooding event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (48.9969, -117.3782)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 756463. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.