1 hour ago
3
Parts of Idaho looked like the Arctic on the first full weekend of summer when torrential thunderstorms and hail flooded the streets with ice floats, according to dramatic social-media footage and footage.
In a wild scene Saturday outside the state’s capital of Boise, a resident was caught on Instagram footage paddling a bright green kayak through the ice-covered floodwaters rushing down a suburban road — while a rural county near Nevada was hammered with a staggering 553 lightning strikes.
“It was small hail, but there was an awful lot of it,” said Josh Smith, the Boise-based National Weather Service’s lead meteorologist, to the Idaho Statesman.
Cars parked along local streets were nearly swallowed by surging water from the relentless rains – with some vehicles submerged up to their windows – while trash bins floated through the makeshift river, the surreal footage shows.
The widespread storm damage across the Gem State’s Treasure Valley region – a heavily-populated area that encompasses parts of Ada and Canyon counties – was also fueled by winds topping 50 mph, the Statesman said.
As for the hail, “Even some of our employees that were in northwest Meridian said they had several inches of small hail on the ground,” Smith said.
“That probably led to some of the flooding issues with some of those neighborhoods because all that melted off quickly, and the drains weren’t able to handle it – in addition to the inch-plus rain that we received,” Smith explained.
Lightning was also relentless throughout the storm, with rural Owyhee County – located about 150 miles south of Boise, near the Nevada border – recording a mind-boggling 553 lightning strikes.
Ada County had 100 strikes in one day – the second-most ever recorded on a single day in June since 2000, according to Smith and the National Weather Service.
Officials in Canyon County declared a countywide disaster emergency as crews scrambled to respond to the damage, while employees with the Ada County Highway District worked overnight clearing flooded roads and addressing other hazards, the Statesman reported.
The Boise Police Department shared photos of the river-like road conditions on Facebook, urging drivers to use “extreme caution.”
In neighboring Payette County, mudslides triggered by severe flooding caused many highway and street closures Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was injured.
The dangerous weather was expected to continue through the weekend, forecasters warned.
The NWS issued a winter storm warning Saturday for parts of eastern Idaho, where elevations above 6,500 feet were expected to be battered with as much as 8 inches of snow.
“Plan on cold and wet backcountry conditions with a heightened hypothermia risk for those not properly dressed. Wet snow may down trees and block access to forest roadways,” the advisory warned, according to the East Idaho News.
English (US)