River, stream levels start to rise again

Havre Daily News/Nikki Carlson

Waves of rushing water reach the top of a bridge June 3 at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.

With an unexpected surge in water levels in the region, the flood watch continues in north-central Montana, although Blaine County officials say the worst seems to be over for this round.

The Milk River started rising again over the weekend, just as local officials hoped the level of the river was starting to drop.

Joe Parenteau said rain and additional snowmelt north of the border brought the Milk River, the level of which had started to drop late last week, back up.

"Friday it started to come back up again, " he said this morning, adding that the level this morning at 9.47 feet was higher than where it peaked last week.

The region has seen some flooding, including on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation for several months, and on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation and in Hill County on lower Beaver Creek two weekends ago.

A log jam at a diversion on the Milk River near the Milk River Bridge between Harlem and the Fort Belknap Agency has raised the level of the river there, flooding fields for hundreds of yards from the river by the weekend.

Blaine County Commissioner Vic Miller, public information officer for the county, said this morning that the water levels are receding. He said clearing out the debris near the bridge probably will be looked at as part of the cleanup or mitigation efforts following the flood.

Miller said Friday deep rutting on roads has occurred from Savoy to Chinook, and the Merrill/Paradise Valley roads have water across them and the Dead River Road is impassable. The county road and bridge crews are out working on damaged roads today.

Six to eight families were displaced by the flooding in the county.

Miller said that, if more water had come from the tributaries, it could have raised more problems in Chinook and Harlem proper, with the situation nearly coming to a head in Chinook Sunday but no flooding actually occurring in the communities.

Fort Belknap has had families in its northeast corner experiencing repeated flooding since March to date, and also families displaced by the flooding near the agency in the last week.

Recovery from flooding at the Hays and Lodge Pole areas in mid-April is under way.

Red Cross of Montana said in a press release Saturday it is putting most shelters statewide on standby, including a shelter in Box Elder, ready to open quickly if needed.

Its shelter at the Crow Agency in south-central Montana is still open, with about 30 displaced families at that shelter.

The Red Cross also is continuing to help with feeding families in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and distributed cleanup and family recover kits at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation and the Crow reservation over the weekend.

The Montana State University Extension Service also is providing online help to people who are in danger of flooding or have experienced flooding. See more information on resources to the right.

"The folks in Montana are hungry for any information to help them cope with all this water, " Millie Veltkamp, Extension information technology and distribution coordinator, said in a press release announcing the online list of resources. "We know they don't have a huge amount of time to spend searching the Internet for accurate, timely information, so we wanted to help by providing a sort of 'one stop shop' for credible, information to help protect their homes and provide recovery assistance if they do get flooded. "

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to act early this week on making a recommendation to President Barack Obama on declaring a major federal disaster in Montana.

Parenteau said the gates at the Bullhook confluence with the Milk River have been closed again, but the pumping has dropped off because less storm runoff from the city has collected in the system.

The level of Big Sandy Creek has risen again, flooding some lowland areas and adding to the level of the Milk River, he said.

Fresno Reservoir is full, with water going over the spillway and more flowing into the reservoir than is running out, Parenteau said.

He added that work done in past years, such as the levees built around the Milk in Havre following the major flood in 1952, and improvements to bridges and highways has helped with the damage caused so far by this year's flood.

"People still need to be very cognizant of the water levels, that they could rise very quickly, " Parenteau said.