FLOOD ANNIVERSARY: Lessons learned from record 2018 event
When the
But Mother Nature had more in store for
"It was a significant, historic flood all across northern
Back in 2018, Lashley took a look at the
"Driving around the county and seeing just where the river was, was very eye opening," he recalled.
Now Lashley uses the data from that flood for presentations to weather scientists and others.
He explained that two moisture-laden air masses came together over northern
"At
The rainfall was also the heaviest in a three-day period for any month since records began being cataloged in the early 1900s, he said.
But the rainfall was only part of the flooding phenomenon. In the week before the rain fell, the ground around
Temperatures soared, reaching a balmy 59 degrees
When the snow cover melted, Lashley said, the water it released saturated the ground and began raising the levels of local creeks and the river. So when the record rainfall arrived a few days later the ground could not absorb any more moisture.
And, because the moisture arrived in the middle of February, there was no vegetation to absorb it and mitigate the runoff.
The local geology had been primed for a big flood.
DAMAGE DONE
When the river's water rose, it impacted more than 300 city structures, 179 of which were residential and 119 of which were owner-occupied, according to city officials.
Kollar spent the days following the flood trying to salvage his inventory and repair damage at his business, Casper's Coin and Jewelry along
About six inches of water seeped into the retail store.
"We didn't think it would get to the back of the store, but it did," Kollar said Friday. "People were amazed at how high it got in the short amount of time."
He said damage cost him
Kollar's store was in the heaviest-hit area of the flood. Despite past, but lesser floods in west
But when the water reached 12.49 feet, the flood entered the Kroger grocery store and other stores in the
Kroger management closed the store, tossed out flood-damaged stock and donated inventory that was salvageable to local food banks.
The company said it spent millions to remodel the store and it took until
The landmark Oasis bar was not as lucky. The owners decided the building adjacent to
LESSONS LEARNED
In his first term as
The event was his first test in managing a natural disaster crisis as the head of city government.
"It was a very quick learning curve I had, as it happened," Stutsman said.
He and city staff worked what he described as an incredible number of hours throughout that week, coordinating local response efforts.
Stutsman, who has a background in construction and is used to weeks with long overtime, said he about a half-dozen other staff members worked 91 hours during the first 97 hours of the flood emergency. Other employees also put in long hours.
The situation also served as a lesson on best practices for communicating with state and/or federal teams in an emergency.
"It was a crash course of what you need to do," Stutsman said.
An update to the city's emergency management system and communications shortly before the flood proved helpful that week.
After the flood and over the first couple months of cleanup, Stutsman said staff had debriefings on how the city's response could be improved and how the city could have reacted more quickly.
Moving forward, Stutsman said the city has taken advantage of a program with
The city is also applying for a grant that would launch a vulnerability assessment of
FUTURE FLOODING?
Now a year later, businesses and homes have been dried out and repaired and life is back to normal for flood victims.
And the question of if a worse flood will occur in the future pops up in
"You can never say definitively, but definitely the bar has been raised," Lashley said. "And we see all these studies on rainfall. Certainly, it is possible."
At the same time, warm, moist air at about 5,000 feet from the
"We call it an atmospheric river," he said of such wet air flows.
The two slow-moving air masses hit northern
The meteorologist said a similar weather event occurred in southern
Asked if climate change was responsible for the wetter-than-normal February in 2018, Lashley said, "Essentially what happens is the warming climate allows the atmosphere to hold more moisture."
With an uncertain weather future, Lashley said planning for flood emergencies is a good idea. He praised
"You can't prevent these things from happening, but you can prepare and try to mitigate and prepare so you can recover faster and more efficiently."
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