Friday, July 14, 2006

Flooding costs Hailey $42,000

City releases figures on recent flood control efforts

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By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

During recent flooding in the Wood River Valley, the Big Wood River reached a peak height of 7.92 feet and was flowing at 7,800 cubic feet per second on Sunday, May 21. The city of Hailey on Monday released figures showing its total flood costs were nearly $42,000. Photo by Willy Cook

Hailey's response to flooding on the Big Wood River this spring cost the city just under $42,000, City Clerk Heather Dawson told the Hailey City Council Monday.

Due primarily to a higher than average winter snowpack, the Big Wood River flowed fast and furious for roughly a month-long stretch, from early May to early June.

Measured at the Bullion Street Bridge in Hailey at its peak on Sunday, May 21, the Big Wood reached a height of 7.92 feet and was flowing at a whopping 7,800 cubic feet per second. Official flood stage on the Big Wood River is 6 feet as measured at the Bullion Street Bridge.

Hailey's flood costs—broken down into five separate categories—not only account for various mitigation efforts like having city crews onsite, sandbagging and directing traffic, but also cover the planning that went into the efforts and the cleanup, Dawson said.

"Even repairs to the streets that were damaged by the flooding," she said.

The costs also account for the work Hailey city crews did in helping shore up the flood-damaged Deer Creek Bridge north of the city.

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Broken down by category, Hailey's flood control efforts cost:

· $6,567 for information and planning.

· $14,874 for flood mitigation.

· $11,947 for post-flood cleanup.

· $11,667 for work on the Deer Creek Bridge.

Within a few days, Hailey will make a formal request to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for possible repayment of some or all of the flood costs.

"We don't know how much, if any," Dawson said.