Crook County keeps close watch on floodwaters

High water from recent rain and snowmelt has rivers running fast and over their banks across the state. O fficials said the worst of the flooding in Central Oregon has been in Crook County.

Michael Ryan, the county’s emergency manager, saidWednesday the maximum water outflow of the Bowman Dam is just over 3,000 cubic feet per second. He said t hat’s where the levels are at right now.

s a result, the Ochoco Irrigation District is in flood-control mode. Ryan said that’s not too unusual, and flooding like this happens every year. But a n Oregon Department of Transportation official said flooding this bad on the Paulina Highway is uncommon.

“Yesterday, I was out there in the middle of the day and it was probably 150 feet, 200 feet of water over the road,” said Joel McCarroll, District 10 manager for ODOT. “The southbound lane probably had about 6 to 8 inches in it. On the northbound lane, you could see a car go through it, and it was up to the fenders.”

Fortunately, McCarroll said those numbers have since been reduced. On Thursday, he said, a bout 60 feet of the highway had water over the road, and it was only about 3 feet deep.

Gervais Park in Prineville also has been hit by flooding from the Crooked River. The entire park is covered in water.

The executive director for Crook County Parks and Recreation said there’s been a huge increase in water levels in just a couple of days.

“It was just barely starting to cover the path here earlier in the week, and it’s come up a good 8 to 10 inches probably since then,” Duane Garner said. “Now, I don’t think there’s any reasonable place to go in the park now. It’s all underwater.”

Garner said the water levels now are similar to what he saw as snow melted after the snowy winter of 2017.

Zach Lampert, the facility manager of Meadow Lakes Golf Course in Prineville, said the same thing about the course. He said he’s been working at Meadow Lakes for 13 years, and the flooding is about the worst it’s ever been.

They built a makeshift bridge for people walking the course near the ninth hole green. W ithout that, players would have to walk through a huge puddle of water. Th e tee on the 10th hole is closed, and so is the entire 16th hole.

Lampert said the floods have not had a drastic impact on business quite yet.

“I think if it drags out, if you’re talking two, three, four weeks at this level, then it definitely will have an impact on our play, the number of rounds, the number of people we can get out there safely without damaging golf carts or anything like that,” Lampert said.

Officials said there’s not much that can be done to reduce those levels. B arring any more rainfall, they expect the floodwaters to recede and for things to be cleared up in about a week.