Transportation

Geography

Historical Background

Identified Hazards

Issues

Maps

Twin Falls County has eight incorporated communities: Buhl (pop. 3,985), Castleford (277), Filer (1,620), Hansen (970),  Hollister (237), Kimberly (2,614), Murtaugh (139), and Twin Falls (34,469. The total population for the county in 2000 was 64,284. That is an increase of 20% since 1990.

Transportation

Geography

Land Area: 1,957 square miles.

Historical Background

Established February 21, 1907 with its county seat at Twin Falls. Named for the nearby waterfalls on the Snake River. A station line was established at Rock Creek in 1864 for the Ben Holladay Stage Line. The Twin Falls South Side project brought water to thousands of acres of arid land in 1904 and became one of the most successful in the Carey Act irrigation projects.

County Seat: Twin Falls

Pestilence - 1985

Event Summary:   Grasshopper infestation led to pesticide spraying on over 6 million acres of range; Ada, Elmore, Owyhee and Minidoka counties declared a disaster by USDA, state disaster declaration 6/18/85.

County Summary: Grasshopper infestation

The Idaho Statesman 3/1/86

Flood - January 5-12, 1979

Event Summary:   Rain and melting snow ran off frozen ground, causing creeks in the Boise Foothills to rise and a 15 mile long ice jam in the Snake River to break up, resulting in flooding in Boise, Weiser and Blackfoot.  Schools throughout southwest Idaho were closed. Farms, crops, homes and businesses were damaged.  Washington and Bingham counties received a state disaster declaration 1/8/79.

County Summary: Near Buhl, a 20' break in the main canal flooded farms and forced evacuations of families.  In Twin Falls, runoff backed up the city sewer system and flooded some basements.

The Idaho Statesman, Jan. 12, 13 and 16, 1979

Flood - February 10-14, 1962

Event Summary:    $15,000,000.00 - Floods were touched off when prolonged rain and warm temperatures combined to melt mountain snow packs and send the runoff rushing into the lowlands faster than the still frozen ground could absorb.  A federal disaster declaration was issued 2/14/62 after extensive flooding along the Portneuf River and its tributaries, The Snake and Teton Rivers, inundating an area from Sugar City to Malad and from Aberdeen to Soda Springs.  Throughout the area, numerous earthen dams and levees collapsed, roads were closed, bridges damaged, houses and businesses flooded.  National Guard and Army Corps of Engineers responded to the areas in hopes of stopping additional flooding.  Damage was estimated at more than $15 million.  Damage to over 1500 homes was reported.

County Summary: Roads and streets were damaged by floodwaters.

The Idaho Statesman

Volcanic - August 11, 1937

Event Summary:    Volcanic activity caused a sinkhole in Buhl.

County Summary: Buhl farm was sinking into newly-formed canyon accompanied by "earth-shaking booms and spurting clouds of yellow volcanic dust."

"Buhl Farm Land Sinks Into Old Volcanic Bubble" 8/11/37

Identified Hazards ( Most likely to occur & greatest impact)

Other Issues