Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed flood-related disaster declarations today (Tuesday) for seven counties in the Panhandle and central Idaho.
Otter officially declared these counties as state disaster areas: Boundary, Bonner, Kootenai, Shoshone, Benewah, Latah and Clearwater.
Elizabeth Duncan from the Idaho Office of Emergency Management says flood waters are causing mudslides and broken levees and flooding homes and basements.
“It is, I guess the best word to use is, daunting, and it’s statewide," Duncan said. "Right now we have 25 of our 44 counties that have some sort of declaration in place, local or state, involving snow, snow-related flooding, flooding. And it is affecting a broad cross section of our state.”
That includes counties all across southern Idaho that are dealing with or have dealt with snow and floods of their own.
The declaration allows counties to apply for state resources to help in a broad range of areas.
Earlier this week, Washington Governor Jay Inslee issued a similar declaration for 20 counties east of the Cascades.