Governor asks Obama to declare flood disaster

For the third time in four years, Montana’s governor has asked President Barack Obama to declare a disaster in north-central Montana due to flooding.

“I have asked the president to consider the devastating effects Montana's flooding has caused the people and infrastructure of north-central and northeastern Montana,” Gov. Steve Bullock said in a press release Tuesday. “Montanans hardest hit by these floods continue to do all they can to clean up and rebuild, and we need to support and help them in every way we can.”

If the president declares a disaster, which would make federal money available to repair public property and infrastructure, another declaration also could make federal money available to help private property owners recover from the damage, as well as bringing in volunteer assistance.

Bullock’s request is for public assistance to help local governments recover and rebuild infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and rural water systems.

Storms from mid-May through mid-June dropped close to — or more than — the normal year’s total of rain for the area, centering on the Bear Paw Mountains, causing widespread flooding.

The governor’s letter includes information from National Weather Service and from the preliminary damage assessment to the area.

The weather service reported that from May 19 through June 3, Havre received 619 percent of its normal precipitation, 6.68 inches, while Chinook received 5.42 inches, 408 percent of normal.

The rain so far put Havre at about its normal annual amount of precipitation by mid-June with 11.21 inches recorded.

At the Hill County Park Board meeting in June, Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar reported the park, still recovering from the floods in 2010 and 2011, received 13.5 inches of rain in the last two weeks of May.

The $3.18 million preliminary damage assessment listed in Bullock’s letter includes $773,000 at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, $22,185 in Chouteau County, $545,677 in Hill County, $358,092 in Blaine County and $246,705 at Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Obama declared a disaster for Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and Chouteau and Hill counties in 2010, and another in 2012 for a widespread region that included Rocky Boy and Hill and Chouteau counties as well as 30 other counties and two other reservations, including Blaine County and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Bullock requested a disaster declaration for 12 counties, including Blaine, Chouteau and Hill, and the Rocky Boy’s, Fort Belknap and Fort Peck Indian reservations.

Montana’s U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, both Democrats, were quick to call on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite declaring the disaster and bringing assistance to the region.

In a press release Tuesday, the senators cited a letter they sent to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

“This amount of rain has devastated many roads and bridges and has had major impacts on rural populations,” they wrote in the letter. “The impacts of this flooding have been devastating and far exceed the ability of our state and local governments to pay for such damages. Federal resources are urgently needed to help our communities get back on their feet.”

The senators cited the damage estimates.

“The impacts of this flooding have been devastating and far exceed the ability of our state and local governments to pay for such damages,” Baucus and Tester wrote to Fugate. “Federal resources are urgently needed to help our communities get back on their feet.”

In 2010, when Rocky Boy sustained more than $31 million in damages including to its recently built clinic, the Chippewa Cree Tribe became the first tribal nation in FEMA’s eight-state region that includes Montana to apply directly to the federal government for assistance.

In a disaster declaration, the federal government provides the funds to the state, which then provides it to the local governments. Indian nations can request direct assistance, rather than going through the state government.

FEMA also is collecting data from private property owners to determine if individual assistance is justified. People are asked to fill out the forms provided and return them to the local Disaster and Emergency Services office, which then provides the data to FEMA.

That could lead to an individual disaster declaration, which could provide federal funds to assist in repairing damage to private property including residences and businesses. The declaration also could lead to help through volunteer labor from agencies such as American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters.