December 29, 2005
Klamath Falls Herald and News
By DYLAN DARLING
County officials Wednesday urged people who live along
the Sprague and Williamson rivers to be alert for lowland flooding.
Near Beatty, the Sprague is expected to rise to 7 1/2 feet today, a half a foot
below flood stage. Water also could be closeto or past flood stage on the
Williamson.
The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for
the two rivers Wednesday, the first in its three warning levels about flood
danger.
“It looks like we will have to monitor this very closely,” said Klamath
County Commissioner Bill Brown.
Wednesday afternoon, Brown and fellow Commissioner John Elliott met with Klamath
County Sheriff Tim Evinger, County Emergency Manager Bill Thompson and other
officials to plan for a potential evacuation call for residents along the
Sprague and to protect a cluster of homes on the Williamson.
Although there are a number of houses along the Sprague, they are “too far
apart for us to stage a flood fight,” Thompson said. Instead, officials call
for a voluntary evacuation when water gets high.
Meanwhile things are different at a collection of homes near where the
Williamson passes under Modoc Point Road. The homes are nestled by a bend in the
river, close enough together that there is the possibility of putting up a wall
of sandbags to hold back flood waters.
The officials were talking from first-hand experience when they outlined their
plans.
“We do have an advantage - we have seen this before,” Thompson said.
In the winter of 1996-97 a similar string of weather -
snow, snow, more snow and then rain - caused the first severe flooding on both
rivers since 1964. The flooding was the worst during the first week of January.
On Jan. 4, Oregon Army National Guard troops in the area for drills helped
residents who lived in the 15 to 18 homes in the neighborhood on the Williamson
pack and stack sandbags to keep flood waters back, although there was a limited
supply of sandbags because the county doesn't see flooding often. Sand came from
the Klamath Tribes' Kla-Mo-Ya Casino construction site.
The flooding resulted in $335,000 worth of damage. Five homes were destroyed by
flood waters, 11 received major damage and 30 received minor damage. County
commissioners called a state of emergency.
A check of the inventory shows that the county has 3,600
sandbags on hand, leftovers from after the 1996-97 flooding.
“Which is frankly not that many,” Thompson said.
Officials said residents can purchase sandbags from
hardware stores, although supplies are limited. Sand would cost about $5 per
bag.
Although now National Guard training is planned for this weekend, 15 to 20
troops “could be mustered” if needed, said Cpl. Shawn Richards, rural patrol
team leader.
Last week, Evinger and Richards flew over the Sprague
River Valley to check on water levels.
“It's very hard to tell where the river is and where it isn't,” Richards
said.
Forecasters predict a break in the rainy weather this
weekend and an easing of flooding danger. For now, officials will be watching
the weather and hoping there is not a repeat of 1996-97.
“Hopefully the breaks are going to come to us, but the ground is pretty
saturated,” Evinger said.