By Ryan Brown
Klamath Courier Staff Writer
June 14, 2006
KLAMATH FALLS - Last week's failure of the Geary Canal dike had a
ripple effect that will extend for years.
More than 22,000 acre feet of Klamath Lake water stormed through a
hole where the dike used to be, and flooded farmland near the Running
Y.
It turned fields behind the Running Y golf shop and restaurant into
one large lake, much like things were a century before, in the days
before dikes and dams.
The flooding caused Highway 140 to be shut down between the Running Y
and Lake of the Woods for several days and Lakeshore Drive was closed
for a period of time while authorities tried to determine what to do
if the water level went up again.
Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger helped form an emergency response
team. The group was assembled within hours after discovery of the
leaking dike, and included people from the Oregon Department of
Transportation, the Running Y Ranch, Pacific Power and various
construction companies.
Klamath County Commissioners Bill Brown, Al Switzer and John Elliott
drafted and sent a letter to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski asking
for possible financial disaster assistance.
As the dike gave way Wednesday afternoon more than 100 workers from
around town gathered, ready to toss sandbags or move rock to help
stop the flooding.
The primary concern shifted once engineers realized that none of the
homes or structures at the Running Y were in danger of flooding.
"We worked with ODOT and tried to save the highway," Pacific Power
spokesman Dave Kvamme said in an interview with the Klamath Courier.
"We didn't wan the water to eat away at the road."
Construction crews spent most of the night, cruising back and forth
between Highway 140 along Klamath Lake and the Running Y loading pile
after pile of rock and dirt and dumping it back along the edge of the
lake.
By morning, Highway 140 had water lapping up onto the road, but
the
water didn't cross.
The Running Y golf course was in much worse condition.
The third hole was mostly underwater, the fifth hole's fairway had
been turned into a giant water hazard and the fourth hole was 95
percent underwater.
"We now have a 15-hole golf course," Running Y PGA professional Jim
Skaagstad said. "Everything is still open except three, four and
five, and we're doing everything we can get things restored."
Running Y Development Manager Jon Bakee told the Klamath Courier
Saturday afternoon that the golf course's flooded holes could be open
very soon.
"We honestly don't know yet, but it could be as soon as a couple
weeks if everything goes perfectly," he said. "We want to get holes
three and five back online this week, but four will take a little
more work."
Bakee said the Running Y hadn't reached a decision yet, but tentative
plans call for a separate dike to be built around the fourth hole
itself, insulating the area from the lake. Then a mass pump out of
the extra water would take place.
"We've been working with Pacific Power and ODOT on this. No one has
the answers right now," Bakee said.
Bakee said it's still not clear who will end up paying for the
damages, which are sure to top millions of dollars.
"That's a question for the legal team," he said. "Obviously the
Running Y was affected and we expect to be compensated."
Pacific Power spokesman Dave Kvamme said his company has maintained
the broken dike since about 1920.
"We don't know when that started, but the agreement was we would
monitor and maintain the dike," he said. "It has nothing to do with
the hydroelectric project."
Kvamme said Pacific Power workers had apparently been out near
the
dike and noticed a leak. Within hours, they realized the dike was
going to break.
"We hired construction workers and extra help immediately," he said.
"The funny thing was we had just gone through a crisis response drill
last week, so it came in handy when we assembled our command
structure."
Kvamme added that work is done to the dike only two or three
times a
year, and that it's one of a number of dikes maintained by Pacific
Power in the Northwest."The Klamath County Emergency Response team was
great," he said. "The Sheriff's office and Pacific Corp, they all
helped out."
Bakee said he's sure environmentalists will swarm to Klamath Lake in
the coming weeks.
"We'll see a whole raft of environmental people here to check on the
fish and the animals and the water," he said.
One bright spot for the Running Y is the extra crew of workers and
government employees in town has helped spike numbers at the Running
Y Hotel, and in the stores and restaurant.
"I don't know if you can call that a silver lining, but
it's nice,"
Bakee said. "We have a lot of interested people coming in from town
to check it out as well."
The golf course is currently lowering their rates to accommodate for
the three lost holes.
"Players just skip the third, fourth and fifth and cut across to the
sixth," Skaagstad said. "They can still turn in their scores for
nine
holes if they are working on getting a handicap."
The main problem for ODOT has been realizing how hard it is to load
rock and have it form a wall near the lake.
One ODOT engineer who came in from Bend said there is so much silt
and muck at the bottom of Klamath Lake that it takes up to 30 feet of
rock before a foundation can be formed at the bottom.
"We've had a lot of help," Bakee said. "The good news is no
structures are in any kind of danger. Now we just want to get the
course back online."
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