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WEST MAGIC — About 100 residents of West Village are water-bound after the only paved road out of town started flooding Friday.
West Magic Road remains closed as water continues to run over the spillway from Magic Reservoir and overloading the Big Wood River, reported the Times-News.
The Blaine County Sheriff’s Department posted on its Facebook page Sunday that 11 feet of water was set to spill from the Big Wood River over land upstream from Shoshone and enter the Little Wood River, causing flooding in Lincoln and Gooding counties. Floodwater will also spill over portions of Idaho highways 75 and 46 where they cross the Big Wood River in Lincoln and Gooding counties.
The flooding was discovered after a woman driving along West Magic Road at 2 a.m. Friday was caught in the flooded area and waited in her vehicle until crews rescued her. Stacy McLaughlin, commissioner for West Magic Fire District, said the woman was driving a smaller SUV.
“I was on scene during the rescue and it was definitely very scary from our viewpoint,” McLaughlin said. “We were on scene for three hours and it was rising substantially while we were there.”
Crews from Blaine County Road and Bridge were installing a barrier Monday to redirect water back down the river. They considered creating an alternative route around the flooded area, but manager Steve Thompson said the field was too wet.
“We are trying to get that water to a few inches and not a few feet,” Thompson said. “We’ll know in a couple of days how this will work.”
The size of the flooding has decreased substantially since Friday from 400 yards to 125 yards of water. Blaine County Sheriff Steve Harkins estimated the water that was 3 feet or higher on Friday had dropped to 2 feet Monday morning.
The road has been closed since Friday and was opened from 5:30 a.m to 8 a.m. Monday to allow residents to get to work or appointments. The road will re-open again from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“I have never seen it flood in this particular spot and I have lived at West Magic for 16 years,” McLaughlin said. “I have seen it get close to the road but not like this.”
Related:
Winter weather puts Idaho town 10 years behind on road repairs
Winter storms have decimated miles of Rupert streets, mainly in residential areas, and put the city as many as 10 years behind on repairs.Depending on flood height, the road will also re-open from 5:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Blaine County Road and Bridge and/or Blaine County Sheriff’s Office staff will attend crossings by residents at these times.
On Monday, a BCRB staff member was on site to turn cars and other low clearance vehicles away from the road. Water poured from the river, covering the road and spilling into a field of sagebrush and lava rock. A sign and barricades warned people of the closed road. Poles with yellow ribbons fluttering in the wind outlined the road’s path across.
The crossings are open to residents only and only in tall, full-size pickups or similar vehicles. About 20 vehicles crossed the flooded road Monday morning. Thompson said when the road re-opens, it will be just one lane.
“Our runoff hasn’t even started,” Harkins said. “That’s going to fluctuate depend on temperature, weather and storms.”
McLaughlin, a resident of West Magic and the information officer for Blaine County local emergency planning committee, crossed the road Monday morning. All other times there is a warning sign a half mile before the flooded area and a barricade sign with hazard cones at the flooding site.
“It doesn’t look like a long distance but when you’re in it, it’s a little nerve wracking,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend people trying it without officials deeming it safe. It does dip down and the water looks like it’s all level but it’s not. I would strongly suggest people do not travel it unless given authorization to and someone else is on scene when they do.”
“The problem now is the water is fluctuating and its coming up in the morning and then subsiding,” Harkins said. “The road is still closed but it’s a soft closure now. Depending if the water comes up drastically we’ll do a permanent closure with barricades.”
