The combination of rain and melting snow during a late February warm spell caused streams to rise in parts of Baker County but none was close to flood stage and no highway closures were reported.

Baker County’s neighbor to the south, Malheur County, has not fared as well.

The Malheur River topped its banks between Juntura and Harper, flooding sections of Highway 20 and closing a 33-mile section of the main route between Burns and Vale.

In Baker County, water from melting snow in a field pooled on Monday, Feb. 24, along Highway 30 about 3 miles north of Haines, and runoff flowed across Highway 86 near Milepost 20, at the eastern edge of Keating Valley.

Neither highway closed, and the water had receded Tuesday morning, said Allen Jensen, manager at the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Baker City maintenance station.

Jason Yencopal, the county’s emergency management director, said he has not heard of any major issues with water or with fallen trees or limbs from gusty winds overnight into Tuesday.

Ice is breaking up on the Powder River in Baker City, and chunks of ice are accumulating near Kirkway Drive and Hughes Lane on the north side of the city.

Tommy Hayes of the Baker City Public Works Department said at noon Tuesday that city workers, and Jeff Colton, manager of the Baker Valley Irrigation District, are monitoring the situation.

Hayes said Colton has an excavator available if needed to break up the ice and prevent a dam from forming.

A gage on the Powder River in south Baker City near Wade Williams Field recorded a rise from 102 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Monday morning to a peak of 309 cfs at 11:15 p.m. The river had receded to 150 cfs at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The peak flow is far below even the minimum flood stage, which is 667 cfs.

Almost all of that water was from snowmelt below Phillips Reservoir; about 12 cfs is being released from the dam, since there is no need for irrigation water downstream.

There were no significant increases in flow on the Powder River at Hudspeth Lane, just above Phillips Reservoir, or on Rock Creek near Haines and the North Powder River west of North Powder.

Eagle Creek at Richland rose from 100 cfs to 185 cfs on Tuesday morning, North Pine Creek east of Halfway went from 42 cfs to 129 cfs, Pine Creek at Oxbow rose from 120 cfs to 609 cfs and the Powder River near Richland went from 125 cfs to 610 cfs.

There were no flood advisories in effect for Baker County, according to the National Weather Service.