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Major mudslide closes Highway 95 |
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March 22, 2017 |
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| Lani
Christiansen photo |
| ITD
workers faced a daunting task
Tuesday night as they began work
to reopen Highway 95, with a
wall of mud eight to 10 feet
deep and about 25 yards across
to move. |
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Boundary County was hit once again by a mudslide
Tuesday evening that shut down travel on U.S.
95, this one the most significant since the
major slides of 20 years ago. The hillside on
the north side of the highway came down in a
rush just south of Mountain Meadows Road near
mile 498 at about 8:39 p.m., trapping a car that
was driving through and inundating both lanes
with a bank of mud, trees and debris in a swath
estimated to have been 25 feet across and eight
to 10 feet deep.
Fortunately, the driver of the vehicle was not
injured and was able to get free of her car the
the mud that engulfed it.
As sheriffs deputies, South Boundary Fire and
Boundary Ambulance rallied quickly to the scene
to shut down the highway and attend to the
victim, Idaho Transportation Department
maintenance crews began gathering the heavy
equipment necessary to not only begin clearing
the highway, but also to determine if there were
any additional vehicles trapped under the
debris.
Fortunately, there weren't.
Working in a moderate downpour, the vehicle was
removed from the mud at about 10:43 p.m. and ITD
crews were able to begin work clearing the
roadway and to restore one alternating lane of
traffic through the slide area at about 6:02
a.m. Wednesday. At one point just before 10
p.m., workers had to fall back, as it appeared
that the hillside was about to slip again.
As of 2:30 p.m., flaggers are still guiding
traffic on that single lane.
Exacerbating the traffic woes, Boundary County
Road and Bridge personnel were forced to close
the main detour route around the Highway 95
slide, Deep Creek Loop, at about 12:11 a.m.
Wednesday after a fissure opened up in the
roadway near the railroad trestle near Mirror
Lake Golf Course and portions of the roadway
went under water, limiting access around the
slide to a single rough route via Mountain
Meadows Road at the north end of the slide to
Green Pasture and Trail Creek Roads, back to
Highway 95 at Naples.
Deep Creek Loop remains closed at this hour.
Shortly after 5 a.m., school district officials
made the decision to run buses on all but Deep
Creek Loop and open schools on schedule. By the
time buses started rolling, the traffic
situation changed, forcing southbound drivers to
change plans, but the majority of the county's
public school students were delivered safely to
school on time.
There are currently no estimates as to when
Highway 95 will be fully open, nor as to when
Deep Creek Loop can be reopened.
With the National Weather Service extending the
currently existing flood warning to noon
Saturday just a minute before the current
warning was set to expire at noon today as
forecasters predict another moderate to heavy
rain event Thursday night and into Friday, there
is a better than fair chance that conditions
will get worse before they get better.
On Tuesday, Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter
signed a disaster declaration for Boundary,
Bonner, Kootenai, Benewah, Shoshone, Latah and
Clearwater Counties, allowing state assistance
in the recovery and opening the way for counties
to receive federal assiistance. |
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| NewsBF photo |
| The
denuded hillside near Mountain Meadows
Road that greeted motorists as Highway
95 reopened to one lane of alternating
traffic Wednesday morning. |
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