Lightning strike destroys water level sensor in Coeur d'Alene | News

(UPDATED - 1:45 p.m.) - If your shower didn’t feel as powerful this morning, it’s probably because your household was affected by an equipment failure in Coeur d’Alene’s water system. A level sensor at the Tubbs Hill reservoir was struck by lightning over the weekend, ruining computer equipment.

The city’s water superintendent, Jim Markley, says the water pressure for some neighborhoods were considerably lower than what they were used to.

“They’d have a hard time taking a shower. Sprinklers wouldn’t pop up and it would take your washing machine longer to fill,” Markley said.

The water department received about 20 complaints over the phone Monday morning about the lack of pressure.

“It’s an unhappy time for the water system when the water pressure drops like that. It never happens,” said Markley. “The tank kept saying ‘Yup, I’ve got lots of water’ to the control system when it didn’t.”

When the department was notified of the failure this morning, the wells were manually turned on to help recover the water levels in the tanks. The affected areas of Coeur d’Alene include Lunceford-Neider Avenue, but according to the city, did not include Armstrong Park, Stanley Hill or Fernan Hill.

Markley says the damage is estimated at less than $1,000. The fried computer parts, including a level transducer and circuit board, were replaced with spares on the shelf.

Levels are expected to be normal by noontime on Monday.

In the recent update of this story, Markley supplied a cost estimate of the damage and specifically what parts were damaged.