Big Sandy Creek reaching flood levels

While not yet anything close to the flooding that hit the area last year or in other parts of Montana this year, officials report that streams in this part of the state are starting to overflow.

Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator Dave Sheppard reported this morning that a stream gauge on Big Sandy Creek is showing minor flooding.

People who live on or near the creek should be prepared for higher-than-normal water levels, Sheppard said.

The Milk River near Havre and Harlem, where National Weather Service reports data on the river, is far below flood stage and levels have dropped since the weekend.

The river is in a major flood stage at Glasgow, however, with a gauge near Tampico showing it at 27.17 feet and the major flood stage at 27 feet. The river has been reported as flooding there since Friday.

Estimates are that the Milk River has peaked there and will stay about level through the weekend and drop off in the middle of next week.

Clear Creek near its mouth by Chinook hit the action stage over the weekend, topping at 5.09 feet, but peaked Friday and has dropped since then.

Reports have come in that Peoples Creek has flooded near Dodson.

The level in Fresno Reservoir west of Havre rose significantly in the last few days, but is still far below full.

The reservoir showed 53 percent full this morning, with an inflow of 2,219 cubic feet per second and discharge of 44.06 cubic feet per second.

Other parts of the state have had much more severe flooding, including U.S. Highway 87 between Fort Benton and Great Falls being closed due to flooding and Interstate 90 closing over the weekend between Hardin and Wyoming.

Homes have been evacuated due to flooding on the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana as well.

Flooding due to rapid melting of high levels of snow in north-central Montana last year led to large amounts of damage to fields and roads and a presidential disaster declaration for the region.