SALMON, Idaho -- Hundreds of residents prepared to flee their homes at a moment's notice Thursday as the Salmon River spilled over its banks. It was the second flood in the small mountain town in one week.
The Salmon River, clogged by ice jams and filled with runoff from snow-packed mountains, overflowed its banks south of town about 5 p.m. EST and was being held back by two hastily-constructed three-foot-high dikes.
'The water is out of its banks right at the edge of town,' said Lemhi County Search and Rescue Communications Officer Dick Smith. 'If the levy is overwhelmed we will have to evacuate 250 homes.'
Three homes in the rural area under water early Thursday.
State officials advised the town's 3,000 residents to boil drinking water because sewer systems had been overwhelmed by ice and slush. Authorities feared raw waste was being diverted into wells near two sewage lagoons filled to capacity with flood waters.
A state inspector was flown in from Pocatello to survey the sewage system.
The 250 threatened homes escaped damage a week ago when the ice-jammed Lemhi River flooded another section of the small mountain town.
The earlier flooding displaced 358 people and damaged or destroyed 125 homes, said Gov. John Evans, who toured the flood zone Wednesday. He said damage from the record flooding could reach $3 million.
Smith said the Salmon was flooding about three miles of farmland south of town, with the dike forcing the icy water back into the river at the edge of town.
Another dike, about 1 miles south of town, was diverting some water from the flooded area, but was not large enough to prevent flood waters from reaching the south edge of town.
'The levy at the edge of town is diverting water the first isn't catching,' Smith said.
The National Weather Service continued a flash flood watch for the Salmon area. Forecasters said temperatures reaching into the 40s had caused excessive runoff to enter the river, already clogged by ice jams.
At Middleton, crews dynamited ice jams in a creek to prevent expected flooding.
