Flooding

Gallatin County has received a record amount of snow in the past month for that period of time with the snow containing a near record amount of water.

With all the snow that western Montana has received over the past month, Montana’s State Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale encourages residents to look into flood insurance as the weather warms.

Continuous rain in the Clark Fork basin could cause the river to rise by as much as a foot and a half to about the nine foot level by Wednesday evening.

It's true. It's actually gone. As in, not part of the flowing East Gallatin River anymore due to recent flooding activity. A perfect example of Mother Nature doing whatever she wants.

Director of the Missoula County Office of Emergency management, Adriane Beck, sounded a hopeful note after the long Memorial Day weekend.

The federal on-scene coordinator with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Response Unit, Marty McComb and one other EPA official are in Missoula to test the berms and the toxins at the former Smurfit-Stone mill site

One of the most significant effects of the Clark Fork River flooding is the danger of toxic materials stored for the last half-century in the old Smurfit settling ponds that are separated from the swollen river by only a series of earthen berms, being released into the river.

Flood response officials are focusing their attention on a levee in the East Mullan Road area that is reportedly being eroded by the flooding of the Clark Fork River, possibly putting infrastructure in the area at risk.

After declaring a flood emergency in late April, the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers have flooded and hundreds of thousands of county dollars have been expended, so Missoula County Commissioners officially declared a disaster on Thursday morning, making way for state aid.

Authorities close these roads for a reason and these photos illustrate that reason quite vividly.