County's heaviest snowfall since '96
—Photo by STAR SILVA Jacob Walker flings snow off of the roof of the kindergarten school building located across the street from Valley View Elementary School on Monday in preparation for Tuesdays predicted rain fall.
—Photo by STAR SILVA Downtown Bonners Ferry proprietors shovel walkways and rooftops off of their business on Monday, after heavy snowfall blocks storefronts.
—Photo by STAR SILVA Bonners Ferry resident, Cher Milne, shovels her car out of the driveway at her residence on Augusta Street on Monday after an estimated 36 inches of snowfall accumilated over the past two days.
—Photo by STAR SILVA Terry’s Dairy driver, Chad Collop, chains up on Monday after he gets stuck on on Augusta Street while attempting to deliver milk to Valley View Elelmentary School. Meanwhile, KHQ News 6 receives assistance from locals after getting stuck in front of Collop while filming local residents who volunteered to shovel snow off of the Valley View school’s infrastructures. Two vehicles behind Collop and KHQ were stuck as well and received assistance from Boundary Tractor.
—Photo by STAR SILVA This masked rider took full advantage of Monday’s snow day by playing in Valley View Elelmentary School’s playground.
—Photo by STAR SILVA Boundary County residents band together and shovel tons of snow off of Valley View Elementary School on Monday. Residents volunteered to shovel the roofs of all of the county schools hoping to prevent any potential damages.
BONNERS FERRY — Some worked, some played, some people just wanted to get out of their driveway.
Due to an estimated 36 inches of snowfall over the past two days, Boundary County School District 101 children were granted two snow days this week after Boundary County Commissioners declared a state of emergency, according to Boundary County Public Information Officer Michael Meier.
This declaration involves notification to the Office of Emergency Management and other federal agencies that may be of assistance, Meier said in a press release issued early Monday morning. During this inclement weather declaration, Meier asked county residents to please stay off of the roads, travel only if needed, and to contact 911 to report any emergencies.
Though this snow accumulation may not be as bad as the snow/ice storms of 1996 and 1997, Meier said that this is the worst weather conditions Boundary County residents have seen since then.
“In 1996, Boundary County road crews were given permission to dump 150 dump truck loads of snow into the Kootenai River — so far, we’ve dumped 140 and they don’t even have all of the city and county roads cleared yet,” Meier said.
Meier said the expected rainfall within the next 36 hours is going to cause the accumulated snow to become severely weighted, thus Boundary County residents scrambled on Monday to remove as much snow as possible off of homes, businesses, and county infrastructures.
According to Meier, rain causes the weight of the snow to double, and currently the Boundary County Courthouse is at 14.5 pounds per square foot versus the 40 pounds of wet snow per square foot documented in 1996.
Countless community members volunteered for snow removal duty at all of the schools, businesses and homes throughout the county.
Boundary County emergency services personnel, road and bridge, local law enforcement and fire departments remained busy throughout the day and evening responding to countless calls such as pulling vehicles out of ditches, clearing roadways of fallen trees and much more.
Retired Bonners Ferry Fire Chief Ron Kish warned residents to make sure to clear off their power meters.
“Back in ‘96, we received a lot of calls because people were reporting that they could smell gas in their homes,” Kish said. “People don’t think about clearing off their meter because we don’t usually get this much snow, but if you block the opening to the diaphragm, there’s a possibility of getting street pressure instead of house pressure, and you will smell the gas. If this happens, it could be catastrophic. If you smell gas in your home, you need to call the fire department immediately.”
Power outages were reported from the Canadian border at Eastport to Bonners Ferry and into Montana, but, as of Monday night, power has been restored throughout the county, according to Northern Lights and the City of Bonner’s Ferry’s electric department who worked with Bonneville Power to restore services.