Sand bagging already underway

WEISER -- It was the spring of 2006 when we last saw the run-off breach the river banks in southern Idaho.

Less than two years later city emergency services departments are taking a pro-active approach.

“The low elevations are really loaded up with snow. I would call it near record amounts,” said hydrologist Phil Morrissey.

And it's those lower elevations where the snow will melt fast, areas like Idaho City, the Long Valley and Weiser - where flooding could be the worst.

“Those areas below 5,000 feet where we have a couple sites, we’re estimating 150-170 percent of average, so that's pretty amazing,” said Morrissey.

“I hope we're prepared, I think we're prepared,” said Steve Penner.

Steve Penner works for Washington County. He remembers flooding just two years ago where waters spilled over the Weiser River and threatened homes and cattle.

So disaster services are taking action with 5,000 sandbags ready to be filled this weekend.

“The worst case scenario would be a kind of pineapple express where you get those warm winds and the melting, rain and precipitation all coming together.  The hope is that we will have a slow rise in temperature and a low melt, but if there should be a sudden rise in temperature and the conditions are right, it will come quickly, and we are in contact with the National Weather Service on a daily basis with the immediate and long term forecasts,” said Penner.

The National Weather Service's long range forecast is calling for near normal temperatures, but with the La Nina year in place that means the chance for rainfall will be greater.

Experts say a heavy rain -- just one to two inches in a 24-hour period -- would be disastrous to the snowpack and low-lying areas this spring.