Supplies ferried to hundreds stranded by Montana floods

BILLINGS — Emergency workers ferried supplies to more than 300 people cut off Friday by flooding that has overwhelmed Montana towns and caused an estimated $8.6 million in damages to date.

Heavy rain and the runoff from record mountain snowpacks have caused rivers over much of the West to spill from their banks. Montana has been hit particularly hard over the past few weeks, with hundreds of homes inundated and scores of roadways swamped.

An underpass in downtown Glasgow is flooded Wednesday by water overflowing from the Milk River.

River levels were retreating throughout the state on Friday, but more rain was expected to fall this weekend and cause flood waters to linger in hard-hit areas in southeastern Montana.

There, roads washed out by the raging Musselshell River left people in a sprawling rural neighborhood in the hills outside the town of Roundup with no way to get out.

Stranded residents were able to call in grocery orders that emergency officials delivered by boat, said Cassie Degner, a local volunteer firefighter. A trailer filled with water, diapers and other essentials had been brought into the neighborhood before access was lost Wednesday.

"They're going to bring in my medications today by, I don't know, rowboat or whatever," said 81-year-old Mary Brower, who suffers from congestive heart failure. She said she hadn't been into town since May 20 and the roads have steadily deteriorated since that time.

"But I'm perfectly content here," she said. "The people I have great sympathy for are the ones flooded out in Roundup."

Authorities in Roundup began pumping out a portion of the downtown that has now been swamped twice since the Musselshell started to rise in late May.

Repairs on the road into the cut-off neighborhood could not begin because portions of it remained under water, said Degner. Another boatload of groceries and other supplies was to be ferried into the neighborhood Friday evening.

The Musselshell River was forecast to drop slightly Friday then rise again and stay above major flood stage until Sunday.

"As soon as the water comes down it comes back up. We're at the mercy of the river — and it's not so forgiving lately," Degner said.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer estimates flooding has caused more than $8.6 million in damage across the state since the end of May. That figure was included a Thursday letter to President Barack Obama in support of a previous request for a disaster declaration, and Schweitzer's office said it could rise with additional damage.

The request for federal assistance covers 31 Montana counties and four Indian reservations. Schweitzer, who is in China, reviewed the letter before it was sent to Obama, spokesman Jayson O'Neill.

Several Montana rivers hit record levels this week, and while many were receding Friday, flooding is ongoing in the basins of at least 10 major rivers across Montana.

The large amount of melting snow has also caused the Army Corps of Engineers to release water from the Fort Peck Dam and into the Missouri River at a record 60,000 cubic feet per second, sending torrents of water gushing downstream and flooding low-lying areas of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and adding to the flooding pressure in North and South Dakota.

In Utah, the National Guard used Blackhawk helicopters Friday to help fix a 30-foot-wide break in a levee that has begun flooding west Weber County.

The levee separating the swollen Weber River and a small canal broke Thursday, and troops at the site about 10 miles west of Ogden were trying to put heavier sandbags into place, said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther.

The river is expected to remain above flood stage through the middle of June. Residents in the area already have sandbagged their homes but fear the worst after seeing their yards inundated.

In Colorado, the Colorado River was flooding near Rifle and debris and turbid waters prompted officials to partially restrict access to the Cache la Poudre River.

The Larimer County sheriff's office said Friday that inner tubes, some types of air mattresses and small inflatable rafts have been banned from the river until the waters calm down. Officials estimate they'll lift the restrictions by early July.

Officials say kayakers are not affected by the ruling.

In northern Wyoming, the Bighorn River is rising rapidly near Basin after more than 2 inches fell in the region. Some low-lying areas there were expected to flood Friday before the river recedes.