Flooding along a 40-mile stretch of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho the week of June 9 has left some 500 evacuated from their homes, including dozens of Church members.
About 150 homes in the small communities of Roberts, Menan, Firth, Rose and Thomas were damaged, and thousands of acres of farmland were flooded, according to the Associated Press. No deaths or injuries have been reported. State officials estimate $35 million in damage to roads and agriculture.Pres. Kent W. Foster of the Idaho Falls Idaho Eagle Rock Stake, who is also chairman of the regional welfare committee, reported that some 10 LDS homes in Menan have been damaged, about 60 in Roberts, and about 20 in Firth. Other homes were affected in Ririe and in the Idaho Falls area. No LDS meetinghouses were damaged. Pres. Foster's region includes 21 stakes in Idaho Falls, Shelley, Firth, Roberts, Menan, Rigby and Ririe.
In the Blackfoot, Idaho, area, about 30 miles south of Idaho Falls, nearly 40 LDS homes were damaged. Pres. James Turpin, first counselor of the Blackfoot Idaho West Stake, which includes Thomas, said about 30 homes in his stake were damaged. He added that in the Blackfoot Idaho Northwest Stake, from six to 10 homes were flooded.
Much of the flood damage is coming from ground water, Pres. Foster explained. "When the river got so high," he said, "the sub-water got high. We had pumps and everything we could think of. The river's not going to recede rapidly. It will be weeks or months before sub-water problems go away."
Pres. Foster related that members are joining with neighbors to provide relief efforts to stricken areas. For example, some 170 members of the Idaho Falls Idaho East Stake spent two days building dikes and sandbagging in Firth, 15 miles south. "They basically saved the high school, the middle school and the elementary school."
One of the most touching stories came from the Ririe Idaho Stake, north of Idaho Falls. Stake Pres. Blair Grover reported to Pres. Foster that members had been working hard one evening sandbagging. "The water was still rising. It was getting grim," Pres. Foster related. "They looked up and there came 200 students from Ricks College [in nearby Rexburg, Idaho]. He said it was like seeing the cavalry come over the hill. He said those kids really worked."
Pres. Foster also spoke of members in Roberts, who, after sandbagging their own meetinghouses, spread throughout the community helping sandbag other churches.
In the Blackfoot area, about 2,000 volunteers worked four straight days erecting barriers along a five-mile stretch of the river.
"It's a tough time," Pres. Foster noted, "but it's brought communities closer together. It's really been gratifying the way everyone's gone to work and donated equipment, and have done everything they could to solve the problems. It's been a good effort."