The U.S. Forest Service has released initial infrastructure damage estimates from the September floods. 232 roads, 70 trails, 4 bridges and 42 facilities were damaged—adding up to almost $17 million in repairs needed.
A U.S. Forest Service Flood Incident Assessment Team looked at 609,000 acres by both land and air.
Roads are demanding the costliest repairs right now with an estimated $10.6 million in damage.
Tammy Williams with the U.S. Forest Service says some federal funds can be used to cover the costs of road repair. Overall, completing the to-do list will take years.
“We are working to look more closely at what it is we need to do, and the order we need to do it in,” she said. “In some cases we may not repair or rehab some things. We may decommission some things, or leave them as they are.”
The report did not look at damage to resources like watersheds or fisheries.