Water, water everywhere

What started as a drizzle Tuesday morning quickly turned into a torrential downpour, as the National Weather Service placed Moscow under a flood warning until Wednesday night.

Multiple homes and businesses across the Palouse experienced flooding, as water stormed through city streets between A Street to Third Lilly Street.

“So much water came down that the drainage systems for the stormwater reached capacity and it couldn’t take anymore,” said Capt. Roger Lanier of the Moscow Police Department. “When it was coming from the higher areas and got down into that area, it was literally pushing manhole covers off.”

While police blocked off main thoroughfares, such as the intersection of North Main Street and East D Street, members of the Moscow community took to action. Under the direction of the City of Moscow, multiple residents provided sandbags to those in need of a way to block incoming water.

Debbie Buchanan, head coach of the Idaho volleyball team, helped shovel sand into bags Tuesday night outside Rosauers.

“My son and I started out at the City, and they asked us to come down here,” Buchanan said. “We called in a bunch of troops and are just trying to help.”

Buchanan said she called members of Idaho Athletics to assist in handing out sand to community members. Redshirt junior volleyball player Paige Ruepiper said after receiving the call from her coach, she made her way downtown to try and help those in need.

“We’ve had people showing up, asking for bags. For as much sand as we’ve got, we’ve been cranking it out as fast as we can,” she said.

While Ruepiper said her own apartment was safe from the water, other businesses and living spaces were not so lucky.

Papa Murphy’s on Pullman Road experienced severe flooding outside the store’s front doors. Cadence Averlo, shift supervisor, said the store was forced to close early around 6 p.m.

“About 3 p.m., the water started getting super high and coming in through the front door and the back door. We’ve got about 2 or 3 inches throughout the store right now,” Averlo said. “But if you want pizzas tonight, head over to Pullman.”

Lanier said as the night progressed, standing water had begun to recede. While conditions began to improve as the heavy downpour tapered off, Lanier said residents should still refrain from heading outside.

“If you do have to go out, I’d just avoid the downtown area. If you do have to drive through standing water, slow down,” Lanier said. “There’s a lot of water out there.”

Jodi Walker, University of Idaho director of communications, said there were no plans to issue a notice to students regarding the state of Wednesday campus operations.

Brandon Hill and Kyle Pfannenstiel can be reached at [email protected]