TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The Twin Falls Mainline Canal breached Sunday afternoon.

The breach occurred near North 3800 East, two miles south of Hansen. Water quickly rushed across the road and flooded nearby fields. The excess water is draining into the Twin Falls Coulee west toward North 3700 East.

Jay Barlogi, General Manager of the Twin Falls Canal Company, said crews are working on making cutbacks near Milner and Murtaugh to stop water flow.

“We’ve got a relief valve up here that we call ‘Point Spill’ where we’re spilling water into the river to drop the water levels in the mainland canal,” Barlogi said. “Those cuts have all been made; we’ve diverted a little bit extra water into the High Line and Low Line where we can spill that out downstream of here, doing everything we can to reduce the flow of water in that canal to help assist in the repair of.”

Barlogi said he is thankful for the crews’ help in recovery efforts. The exact cause of the breach is unknown, but Barlogi said rodent holes are a common cause of breaches like this one.

The Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office and the Twin Falls Canal Company continue to monitor the situation. The sheriff’s office will continue to post updates regarding road closures here.

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Photo courtesy Wendy Kopecki

POCATELLO – A wildfire that burned about 650 acres west of Pocatello Saturday is fully contained, as of 10 p.m.

That’s the latest update from the Pocatello Fire Department, which was posted on its Facebook page late Saturday.

It started around 4:30 p.m. in the Michaud Creek area.

Both lanes of Interstate 86 near the Pocatello Regional Airport were initially closed. Firefighters were able to push the fire back, allowing the highway to be reopened around 6:20 p.m.

The department reports no homes were destroyed and all evacuation orders have been lifted.

Officials have not released any further details about the blaze and EastIdahoNews.com has been unsuccessful in getting information after multiple calls to different agencies.

RELATED | People in path of wildfire near Pocatello are being evacuated, officials say

The Idaho State Journal cites lightning as the cause. Windy conditions made it spread quickly.

There were no injuries and no houses or buildings were damaged, the newspaper reports, but about 50 homes in the path of the fire were evacuated. Fire officials told ISJ evacuees could return to their homes Saturday night.

Firefighters will remain on scene Sunday until the flames are out.

Multiple agencies were involved in battling the blaze on the ground and in the air, including Power County Fire District, Pocatello Fire Department and the Fort Hall Fire Department.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Idaho National Laboratory firefighters helped as well, according to ISJ.

The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office, Pocatello Police and Idaho State Police helped with road closures and evacuations.

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a woman in California more than 50 years ago, authorities said.

DNA evidence led investigators to identify Michael Eugene Mullen, 75, as a suspect in the death of Nina “Nadine” Fischer in 1973, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said. Mullen was arrested near Salmon, Idaho, on Wednesday, and he is being held in jail while awaiting extradition to California.

Mullen’s defense attorney, Dan Brown, did not immediately respond to voice and email messages left for him on Saturday.

Fischer lived in San Rafael, California, with her husband and young daughter when the 31-year-old was killed in November 1973, the Marin County Sheriff’s office said in a news release. Both Fischer and her husband were Swedish nationals, and they were preparing to move back to Sweden at the time.

Fischer’s husband found her body when he returned home from work. She had been sexually assaulted and shot three times, and her 2-year-old child was found unharmed in another room.

Law enforcement officials questioned some witnesses — including movers and an assessor who had been at the house that day — but the investigation turned up no leads and the case went cold, according to newspaper articles published after her death.

In 2021, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office sent the case to the California Department of Justice’s Familial Search Program. The program compares DNA from crime scenes to a DNA database in an effort to try to find relatives of a potential suspect. After several months, the DNA resulted in a possible lead, and after three more years of investigation Mullen was identified as the suspect, the sheriff’s office said.

The Marin County District Attorney’s office and sheriff’s office worked with the Idaho State Police and the Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office to arrest Mullen on suspicion of murder. He is being held in the Lemhi County jail.