Temperatures dip as flooding continues

After a comparatively balmy few days, temperatures are expected to dip this week on the Hi-Line as flooding continues.

Havre and the surrounding areas have seen substantial flooding after a warm spell last week melted much of the accumulated snow that had built up after a long and record-setting winter season.

The National Weather Service is predicting a high of 55 today with partly sunny conditions, but temps will drop to a low of 34 tonight with a 70 percent chance of rain.

Tuesday there will be a 30 percent chance of rain, which will rise to 60 percent as the day goes on and the high will drop to 49.

That night the Service is predicting a low just below freezing which will likely turn the rain into snow.

Wednesday will see a 50 percent chance of snow with a breeze followed by a 60 percent chance of rain later in the day and the high will drop to 39 degrees with a low of 25 later that night as snow will likely continue to fall.

Thursday, there is a 50 percent chance of snow throughout the day and night as the temps drop again to a high of 35 and a low of 21.

Friday night will see a partly cloudy day continuing with a chance of snow, mainly between 1 and 7 p.m., with a high near 36 and low around 18.

Saturday is predicted to be mostly sunny as the highs start to rise to a high of 43 and a low of 24 with Sunday seeing a high in the low 50s.

Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Amanda Frickel said Thursday will likely be the worst day of the week in terms of precipitation and could be a big problem for flooding in the area

Frickel said she hasn’t had a chance to look at a detailed report of over-the-weekend flooding damage yet, and the extent of that damage is still being evaluated, but they are going to keep a local flood warning active all through this week.

“We’re still early in the flooding stage so we’re still doing assessments for the most part,” she said.

At this point, she said, there don’t appear to be any more road closures since the end of last week and for now the main focus is getting a handle on how bad the roads are in the wake of last week’s flooding and making sure traffic is properly diverted.

Frickel said most of the snow in the Bear Paws has yet to melt, as has much of the ares north of Havre, so there is likely more flooding to come.

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Hill County 4-H Chuckwagon Building on the Great Northern Fairgrounds there will be a forum about the flooding and the ensuing damage caused by it with representatives from the Hill County Commission, the Hill County Road Department as well as other state agencies and assisting officials.

A release last week said the public will be provided with an assessment of roads and problem areas in the county with a presentation of pictures and slides after which a discussion will be held on what stage of flooding the county is able to address immediately, along with timelines for mitigation and recovery and roles and responsibilities of the county in the process of emergencies.

There will also be an explanation of the process of declaring an emergency including the state’s role, how funding works and how long it will take to get to the area, and a presentation on where property owners go if their homes were damaged on the flood plain.

There will also be a discussion about the process of determining the priority of projects and which departments handle which parts of the process.

Public comments and concerns then will be taken, with each person limited to three minutes.