A heavy downpour once again flooded streets, homes and businesses in the Pocatello area on Tuesday, leading to some evacuations and accidents. Fire and city officials had to set up two emergency command posts to deal with the onslaught of difficulties.

    It’s the second time the area has been flooded within two weeks.

    Robert Survick, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Pocatello, said 1.45 inches of rain had fallen in the Chubbuck area as of 7 p.m., and roughly 1.36 inches of rain was reported east of Pocatello around

6 p.m. But Pocatello residents reported getting up to 2 inches in some locations.

    The hardest hit areas appeared to be Old Town and Pocatello’s west side. The Pocatello Fire Department called in all of the crew members it had in town to deal with the flooding issues, said Ron Davies, assistant chief of operations.

    “We rapidly ran out of resources so we called in everybody we could,” he said, adding that they were pumping, sandbagging and clearing drains while taking their regular emergency calls.

    Officials, police and other emergency responders from Pocatello, Chubbuck and Bannock County also assisted with the flood response.

    Davies said firefighters set up a command post at a fire station to oversee response, while an emergency operations center was also organized at Pocatello City Hall to handle logistics, like tracking down pumps and other needed equipment.

    Davies said some homes were evacuated on Tuesday due to structural damage caused by the rain and concerns that the water could reach electrical lines. Idaho Power cut off the electricity in some of those areas.

    Some downed electrical lines were also reported on Tuesday.

    Davies said they had to deal with all of the difficulties on a priority basis.

    “The life-safety issues take priority over everything else,” he said.

    Numerous streets were closed in the area on Tuesday due to flooding, including the Center Street underpass, West Custer Street to West Buchanan Street, Pocatello Avenue, the intersection of North Seventh Avenue and E. Sherman Street, Oak Street westbound to Yellowstone Avenue, Meadowbrook Avenue, Highland Boulevard, Garret Way to Gould Street, the intersection of Pocatello Avenue, Oak Street and Yellowstone Avenue to East Hayden Street, the intersection of Pole Line Road and Fir Street, Lott Road, Gathe Road, Riverside Drive, the intersection of E. Dunn Street and S. Second Avenue, the North Main extension at Praxair, Garret Way at the railroad, Hiline Road to Griffith Road, and Hiline Road to El Rancho Boulevard. Hawthorne Road in the vicinity of Interstate 86 was also closed.

    Mudslides were also reported in the area of West Custer Street and Highland Boulevard and Skyline Drive in Pocatello on Tuesday.

    Pocatello police urged people to stay off the roads and away from the flooded areas, since cars were stalling and blocking intersections.

    Some non-injury accidents were also reported.

    Survick said 2 to 3 feet of standing water was reported near Costco, and there was also a report of a roof that had been damaged on a business near Center Street.

    Pocatello’s Raymond Park was also under water.

    The National Weather Service declared flash flood warnings until 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday for central Power County, central Bannock County, south central Bingham County, northwestern Caribou County, northeast Cassia County and the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Flash flood watches were in effect until 10 p.m. in Oneida and Cassia counties, and southern Power County.

    Survick said some flooding and home evacuations were also reported in the Arbon Valley area on Tuesday.