‘Nuisance Flooding’ In Store For Montana
Some of Montana’s swollen rivers dropped slightly Friday, but flood warnings remained in effect as mountain snowpack continued to melt and the forecast called for more rain.
“It’s a roller coaster,” said Fred Naeher of the state Disaster and Emergency Services Division.
Flooding is likely to be part of life in Montana for at least another two weeks, state and federal officials say. But so far, the spring flood season has caused relatively little damage compared to 1996, and that isn’t expected to change unless heavy rain worsens conditions.
That was the message in a report to the state’s Storm/Flood Task Force on Thursday.
The Yellowstone River at Billings crested at a record 15 feet and has begun to recede, and the Missouri River at Toston was down slightly today.
The Yellowstone and the Missouri are two rivers of particular concern, but so far they have caused mostly “nuisance flooding,” state disaster officials said. That includes water in basements and flooded farmland.
“What we’re seeing is pretty minimal flood damage at this point,” Cascade County Commissioner Peggy Beltrone said Thursday as she traveled south of Great Falls to look at conditions. “We are bracing for an increase in water levels coming our way down the Missouri.”
The river rose Thursday with an increase in water released from Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Another increase was planned today, pushing the flow from the reservoir to about 23,800 cubic feet per second, the Bureau of Reclamation said. Before Thursday’s adjustment, the flow was about 20,800 cfs.
With today’s increase, the Missouri River at Ulm will rise by about 1 foot, said Tim Felchley of the bureau office in Billings.
Some people along that stretch of the river were concerned higher releases would heighten their risk of flooding. Felchley said that he expects no serious flooding because of the new releases, and that they are necessary to free reservoir capacity for heavy rain that could come.
In addition to the Missouri and Yellowstone, rivers under flood warnings include portions of the Sun, Big Hole, Boulder, Gallatin, Clark Fork, South Fork of the Flathead, Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone, Jefferson and Bitterroot.
In the Billings area, the disaster services coordinator for Yellowstone County said 90 percent of the flooding from the Yellowstone River involved farmland.
About half of the snowpack above 8,500 feet has not melted, Ralph Bergantine of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Bozeman told the task force.
Hydrologist Charlotte Camp of the National Weather Service said the Yellowstone River is likely to be of concern for at least another two weeks, and the Missouri River south of Great Falls for six to 10 days, unless heavy rain makes conditions much worse.