Yellowstone floodwaters threaten water supplies in Montana

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Yellowstone floodwaters threaten water supplies in Montana

By MATTHEW BROWN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
June 16, 2022

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Damaging floodwaters that tore through Yellowstone National Park menaced communities downstream where residents cleaned up from the mess and kept an eye on rising river levels while others braced for the economic fallout while the park remains closed.

After wiping out miles of roads and untold number of bridges in the park and swamping hundreds of homes in surrounding communities, the roiling waters threatened to cut off fresh drinking water supplies to Montana’s largest city.

Officials asked Billings residents Wednesday to conserve water because it was down to a 24- to 36-hour supply after a combination of heavy rain and rapidly melting mountain snow raised the Yellowstone River to historic levels that forced them to shut down its water treatment plant.

“None of us planned a 500-year flood event on the Yellowstone when we designed these facilities,” said Debi Meling, the city’s public works director.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/floods-science-travel-climate-and-environment-853633990245521cc13a7638dcd15e58

[2naSalit]

1. It's still a mess.

I hear helicopters all day long.

My storage got flooded, it's in the same flood plane as the hospital at Livingston. Fortunately, anything I have on the floor that has importance is in plastic tubs and it wasn't deep, looks like about 3 inches so stuff on the pallet are fine, everything else is up on shelving. But the floor has a fine layer of silt that will have to be swept out. I dried out most of it yesterday. The fields around the area still have pooled water but there's still a visible current.

Many people had far worse damage so I am thankful I didn't lose anything.