Massive Snow Melt In Twin Falls Floods Homes And Vehicles
I'll admit that when we were supposed to get an extra foot of snow over the weekend I was excited. Now, I'm even more excited that it didn't happen. There is massive flooding across the Magic Valley and the storm drains can't keep up.
This morning, I received an email that a car on Orchard was stuck in a pool of water so I hopped in my truck armed with a tow rope and a camera (you can't just help people anymore, you have to have a camera) to check it out. Luckily, when I got there the car was gone, saved by some good Samaritan driver I'm sure.
What I did see though was so crazy flooding across one small section of Orchard about a half mile east of the Sugar Beet plant. A river of melted water from an empty field was flowing across the road and was easily a foot deep in places. Normally, that wouldn't be worth writing about, but this particular flood was draining right into the driveway, yard, shed, and home of a Twin Falls man who was clearly struggling to keep the water out of his house.
Every vehicle that drove by pushed walls of water into his yard and no doubt into the basement of his home. The road was visibly lower in front of his house. The melting snow and ice had probably eroded the ground and the road had sunk in. He told me that someone had come by earlier to assess the road but couldn't do anything about it. So, he was left by himself to do what he could.
His suggestion for me was to remind people to slow down when they go through standing water. It may seem fun to have a wall of water come over your car as you plow through a puddle, but there may be a pot hole hidden or the water may be deeper than you think. Plus, if you slow down it won't send those walls of water gushing into the nearby homes.