POCATELLO — Shaun Albertson waded through the mud and muck in his apartment Saturday trying to remove valuables and assess the damage.
“It’s a total loss,” Albertson said.
Albertson has lived at 635 1/2 Willow Ave. for the past four years. He returned home to find his entire basement apartment covered with about four inches of water, mud and green apples following Friday’s rainstorm.
During the storm, which dumped up to four inches of rain on Pocatello’s west side Friday, the bench directly behind Albertson’s apartment gave way carrying rocks, mud and debris down the hill and into his backyard.
The fast flowing water drained into the stairwell and reached a depth of more than three feet before breaking open the door and filling his apartment.
A Stratacoustic guitar was among the items stuck in the mire that was once Albertson’s living room.
“It’s got a lot of sentimental value,” he said. “I’ve had it since I was a kid.”
He cleaned the mud out of the treasured instrument, but didn’t know if it could be saved.
The lawn behind his house was covered with two to three inches of mud and silt and apples from a backyard tree were scattered in the street and throughout Albertson’s apartment.
Albertson is uninsured and is currently staying with his family.
While Albertson downstairs home was destroyed, his neighbor, JC Wride, said his home was undamaged by the rain, but he said the street in front of the house was filled with water, mud and rock from the slide.
“I feel lucky, but I feel terrible for (Albertson)” Wride said. “I’ve been a landscaper here for 14 years and I’ve never seen it rain like that. This is a once in 50 years thing.”
Friday’s storm closed streets in Pocatello and Chubbuck, filled the Center Street underpass with rain water and flooded homes throughout the city.
American Cleaning and Restoration reported a high volume of calls Saturday and pools of standing water remained at intersections and parking lots.
Just a few blocks south of the scene of the mudslide on Willow Ave. Marlene Green notified the Pocatello Fire Department when she discovered water running into her basement through a window.
“It was just pouring in,” Green said. “You could hear it bubbling.”
Green, who lives at 357 N. Johnson Street, said the floors in two basement bedrooms and a bathroom were damaged. She does not have flood insurance and said it cost about $600 to remove the water from her basement.
“I’ve lived here on and off for my whole life,” Green said. “My parents owned the home before me and I grew up here. I don’t ever remember having a rainstorm like this.”