https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/community/sprague-river-rising-to-feet-on-flood-watch/article_ab69bc4d-cdf2-565e-ab11-c37a7b7a4ab7.html
Sprague River
rising to 8.4 feet, on flood watch
Klamath County
lakes, rivers and creeks are rising and rushing, but
officials are not anticipating any serious flood impacts.
Sprague River
is under flood watch by the National Weather service, which
means flooding is “possible but not imminent,” according to
the NWS website. Pit River near Canby, affecting Modoc
County, is also under watch.
A Klamath
County flood map of Beatty and Sprague River showed river
water levels reaching about 7 feet Tuesday morning, and
forecasted to climb to a high of 8.4 feet by early Wednesday
morning. The map, shared by Klamath County Emergency
Management, showed water levels decreasing after Wednesday,
hitting about 6 feet on Saturday morning.
On Tuesday
afternoon, Emergency Manager Morgan Lindsay said the Bureau
of Reclamation was letting water out of the Link River to
help lower the water level.
Lindsay said
officials were closely monitoring levels across the county.
She said Sprague River's potential 8.4-foot high did not
meet the minor flood response threshold, which is 8.5 feet,
and she wasn’t pursuing significant county-wide preparation.
Lindsay said
river water levels in Klamath County typically rise above
7.5 feet every five to seven years, and above 8.5 feet every
10 to 15 years.
The highest
recent Sprague River level was 9.6 feet in 2017, Lindsay
said. Some structures and roadbeds were affected in 2017,
Lindsay said, but no homes were hit by flooding.
Sprague River
also flooded in 1996 and 1997, damaging about 30 structures
in Beatty, Chiloquin and Sprague River, according the the
Klamath County government website.
Lindsay said it
was important for residents to be prepared for natural
disasters as they increased in frequency.
“We go along
with what science is telling us, and that is that our
climate is changing and storms are worsening — even in just
the minor stuff we see around here,” Lindsay said.
As flooding
becomes more regular, Lindsay said impact mitigation
agencies may advocate to move some Klamath County properties
farther from rivers, or to widen/deepen river channels.
She said the
first step to staying safe from a natural disaster was
simply being aware of the local hazards like earthquakes,
major winter storms, hazardous material spills, volcano
eruptions.
“We’ve become
complacent as a culture with natural disasters and thinking
one won’t happen, or one won’t happen to me,” Lindsay said.
“But when it does happen, we lose everything.”
Lindsay
wants people to reach out to her with information and/or
photos of flooding in the community. You can email her at mlindsay@co.klamath.or.us.
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