POST FALLS, Idaho — A crane accident at the North Channel Dam in Post Falls on Tuesday raised initial concerns about potential flooding, prompting a flash flood alert for the area. However, authorities now confirm that the dam is stable, and there is no danger to the community.
Tuesday morning, a crane working on site toppled, causing its boom to strike part of the dam. Post Falls Police and Avista officials quickly assessed the scene, determining that the damage did not compromise the dam's integrity.
In response to the incident, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Flash Flood Watch as a precautionary measure. A hydrologist with the NWS explained that such alerts are part of the emergency action plan to keep stakeholders informed of any potential hazards related to dam structures.
“We issue the alerts for watches and warnings in case of any type of failure,” a hydrologist with NWS said.
Emergency crews have been on-site throughout the morning, working to secure the area and investigate the cause of the crane failure. Post Falls Police and Avista have since assured the public that there was no immediate threat.
“We don’t know exactly what happened or what caused the crane, what was the cause of the accident," Ryan Bean, plant operations and maintenance manager for the Post Falls Dam, said. "We’ll be going through an assessment investigation to figure that out.”
Bean said they do have an emergency plan, which led to the brief warning the dam could fail and flood.
"Operations and dam safety performed our joint inspection approximately one hour afterward, so it was around 10:15, 10:20 we were able to make that determination and stand that down,” Bean said.
Avista is still trying to access how to get the crane upright and out, and they're also looking into how and why the Flash Flood alert was put out.
More to Every Story
The crane collapse at Post Falls Dam triggered the NWS Spokane office to issue a brief Flash Flood Watch on Tuesday morning, leaving many alarmed and confused.
"It's a rare event that when we do this,” said NWS hydrologist Robin Fox said
Fox says it started with a phone call from the dam's operator to let them know they were activating their emergency action plan for a "potential failure."
“The National Weather Service is one of those stakeholders that gets notified because we issue the alerts for watches and warnings of any type of failure,” said Fox.
The call prompted NWS to issue the Flash Flood Watch at 9: 57 a.m. as part of their procedure.
Less than an hour later, it was canceled at 10:38 a.m. after NWS got word the dam was safe and the emergency action plan scaled down.
One thing to note: NWS issued a watch, not a warning, which is on the lower end of their emergency spectrum.
According to NWS, a watch means conditions are favorable for an event to happen - such as a flash flood - but doesn't mean it will. It's issued to allow people who can be impacted to get ready.
A warning means the event is imminent or already happening and people need to take action.
“Given this time of the year, there's not much water in the rivers right now,” said Fox. “But still, any sudden release of water could be hazardous because we're not used to that at this time, any change in the flow right now.
While both Avista and NWS said they followed their emergency protocols, some emergency responders, including Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, said while they understand why the Flash Flood Watch was put out, they questioned if it was needed and wished they'd been coordinated with.