STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Carol Brown poked her ski pole in the water cascading off the jagged edge of War Eagle Drive.

“Did you see the trout? The biggest I’ve seen swimming in the street has been a foot long,” said Hailey's flood information officer, holding her hands a foot apart. “I saw a blue heron sitting above the falls yesterday. Think there’s a reason?”

As the Big Wood River dips a foot below flood level, Hailey city officials and residents are beginning to see what six weeks of flooding has done to the Della View neighborhood.

Five foot stretches of pavement on War Eagle Drive are gone, washed downstream leaving behind jagged pavement and two-foot drops.

The river that coursed through the neighborhood has created a mini-Niagara Falls at Heagle Park, eroding pavement and digging a new channel through the park before returning to the river.

Electrical transformers have been moved downstream and tipped on their sides. Wooden fence posts are crumpled on the ground with missing pieces long gone. A utility line lies in the water. And muck with the consistency of quicksand is everywhere.

“I’m not even going to try to walk across this,” said Brown, after testing the sticky stuff with the toe of her waders.

Though War Eagle Drive is still covered with bone numbing water, it resembles a placid canoe stream  rather than the angry river that rushed through there a week ago.

Though some homes remain surrounded by water, evacuation orders have been lifted for 33 of the 40 homes that were under mandatory evacuation.

A Servpro truck sat in the driveway of one on Thursday as employees concocted a plan to deal with water damage. And Idaho Power employees worked to turn homeowners’ electricity back on.

“The water’s finally below the white line on that transformer,” said Brown, pointing to one. “That was the last one to get turned back on.”

The Big Wood River began exceeding its banks on May 5, swelling to 7.82 feet on May 8—just short of the record. It went through a roller coaster of flood peaks for a few weeks afterwards, sending a muddy river of water past Warm Springs Lodge into the Creekside condominiums and turning yards along Big Wood Drive in Ketchum into lakes.

Water three feet deep screamed around homes on Gimlet Lane and inundated the Della View area.

But, while forecasters had predicted it could go even higher, periodic cold snaps slowed snowmelt just enough that it always peaked just short.

“Thank goodness for that,” said Brown. “Some people were right at the edge—they could have seen some serious destruction had that happened.”

Miraculously, most homeowners escaped with just a couple feet of water in their crawlspace. One woman who lives on War Eagle Drive returned from being out of town for several weeks to find only  minor flooding in her garage.

The only casualty was Michael Wirth, a 54-year-old landscaper who was pulled by rescuers from a flooded basement where he was trying to unclog a pump.

The results of an autopsy released by Blaine County sheriff Steve Harkins this week listed the cause of death as “combined drug intoxication with probable drowning.” The report said cocaine, tramadol, oxycodone and diphenhydramine were found in Wirth’s system. Hypertensive cardiovascular disease was listed as a contributing cause of death.

“Now, as we close the chapter on the flooding, we move into a different story–that of recovery,” said Brown. “And recovery doesn’t happen overnight.”

Kevin Wilson was still technically under evacuation Thursday afternoon but he was giddy about the prospects of sleeping in his own bed and take a shower.

“I’m so happy to have my road back” said Wilson, who has been staying in a camper at the Sun Valley Auto Club.

Wilson showed off his new Frog shoes. It was the first day he had worn something other than waders in weeks.

“I’ve got big bruises on my shin from walking against the current,” he said.

While the flood was certainly an inconvenience for Wilson and his dogs, it presented him an opportunity to become good friends with his next door neighbor, he recounted.

“The guy down the street and I have been best of friends for 15 years and we met in the flood of 2006,” he added.

A technical team from the Army Corps of Engineers walked up and down the flooded area from Bullion Street Bridge to Heagle Park last week to figure out some best options for the future.

“Our goal is to find a solution that makes a resilient river so we don’t have flooding like we’ve seen this year. I think that’s what everybody wants,” said Brown.

Barring another spike in river levels, the City of Hailey will begin inspecting affected homes next week to meet requirements for the National Flood Insurance Program. A committee is also being set up to deal with long-term recovery.

“Flood insurance doesn’t cover everything. Some people were spending $75 a day on gas to run their sump pumps and we don’t know if all that will be covered,” said Brown. “We want to find out what needs are unmet.”

If damage to the road and other public infrastructure tops $2 million, local authorities could petition to have the area declared a federal disaster, which could free up some federal funds, Brown said. But that’s not a given.

And what will happen to the 45,000 to 60,000 sandbags piled up to protect homes?

That hasn’t been determined yet.

Some of the gun clubs may take some. And it’s possible that Walker Sand and Gravel could wash the sand, recycling it for future use. But the bags must be emptied, which could prompt city officials to consider a community sandbag emptying party.

“During the last flood we had a great response to filling sandbags but no one wanted to help empty them,” said Kelly Schwartz, Hailey’s street division manager.

Brown said anyone in the community who would like to take sandbags off the city’s hands are welcome to them.

“I know I’ve got eyes on some for my own yard,” she said.