Canyon County declares emergency after storms hit Nampa–Caldwell area, Idaho

Flooded road in Boise, Idaho on June 26, 2026. Credit: Boise Police Department Canyon County experienced significant strong winds, heavy rainfall, and hail on June 26, resulting in widespread damage across portions of the county. NWS office in Boise issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for east-central Canyon County and northwestern Ada County, including Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, Eagle, and Kuna at MDT on June 26. Radar showed storms moving east from near Caldwell and Lake Lowell, with wind gust potential of 97 km/h (60 mph), hailstones smaller than 19 mm (0.75 inches), and torrential rain that could lead to flash flooding. “It was small hail, but there was an awful lot of it,” meteorologist Josh Smith of the NWS office in Boise said. “Even some of our employees that were in northwest Meridian said they had several inches of small hail on the ground.” “That probably led to some of the flooding issues with some of those neighborhoods because all that melted off quickly and the drains weren’t able to handle it in addition to the inch-plus rain that we received.” Preliminary Local Storm Reports included trees down near Linder and Ustick Road in Meridian, a roof cave-in near Meridian, and an Idaho Office of Emergency Management field officer’s report of about 25 mm (1 inch) of water surrounding the Caldwell Courthouse. View this post on Instagram A post shared (@hollykaydrinkard) A Flood Advisory covering Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, and Payette counties in Idaho and Malheur County in Oregon expired at MDT on June 27 after floodwaters receded and heavy rain ended. NWS advised residents to continue observing the remaining road closures. References: 1 Canyon County Board of Commissioners Declares County-Wide Disaster Emergency – Canyon County – June 27, 2026 2 Lightning, hail, heavy rain hit Boise area, causing flooding, emergency declarations – Idaho Statesman – June 27, 2026 Teo Blašković I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers. news.