Flooding along the Boise River continues to get worse. Another section of the Greenbelt, this time near Veterans Memorial Park, was closed Tuesday. More emergency declarations were issued and a special team from the Army Corps of Engineers was deployed to Boise.
Sinkholes have developed in gravel pits along the river near Eagle Island. Should the banks of the waterway fail, the pits could flood and reroute a major portion of the river along the south channel by the island. The Statesman reports a significant reroute of the river could put lives, property and infrastructure at risk, including the Boise wastewater treatment plant.
Garden City is the latest to join the city of Boise and Ada County in issuing emergency declarations due to the dangerous conditions along the river. Canyon County has declared a local flood emergency.
For the last month the Boise River has been running above flood stage. Dam managers plan to keep the river flow at an increased rate to ward off possible catastrophic flooding as dense snowpack from the recent record-setting winter begins to melt.
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