Aerial drone image of Cowboys Bar & Restaurant in Huntley taken Wednesday morning with very high winds pushing debris, logs and water all around Cowboys property, driveway and into outbuildings. Officials recorded the river volume to be flowing at 82,800 cubic feet per second (CFS), and a high mark of 16 ft. 5 in. on Wednesday, June 15 This 500-year flood level is effecting Huntley worse than both the 2011 and 1997 flood levels, according to officials. (Drone image by Jonathan McNiven). See more drone images and flooding pictures throughout the paper.
The Yellowstone River drainage is experiencing a 500-year flood event. “We have never seen anything like this before,” said a Carbon County official.
Notices flew out across Yellowstone County, late Tuesday, that the Yellowstone River was expected to crest at Billings at 15.1 feet by 7 pm. With local folks watching the water come at them for the past couple of days, as it devastated communities upstream, the report was no surprise. Wednesday morning it was being reported that the Yellowstone River had reached 16.4 feet, the highest level ever reported – 15 feet on the Yellowstone is considered flood stage.
Extreme flood waters reached the Billings water plant on Belknap Street on Tuesday night requiring that the water plant be shut down. Residents are being asked to use water very conservatively.
Flood levels measured on the upper Yellowstone River are beyond record levels.
The fast-moving water snuck up on a local farmer on
Road 9 in Worden as he was attempting to bring a bale
of hay across the field to his cattle. Yellowstone County
River Rescue, Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, AMR,
and Worden Fire Department all responded to rescue
him from the tractor seen here, which almost appears
to be stuck in the middle of a lake. This home is at least
a half a mile from the River.
(Aerial drone photo, by Jonathan McNiven)
Brought on by days of rain and heavy snow melt in the mountains, flooding has devastated the town of Red Lodge and has closed roads in numerous places including Yellowstone National Park, the upper Stillwater, and Highway 89 between Gardiner and Livingston.
Red Lodge and Gardiner have lost homes, bridges and roads.
Stranded people near the Stillwater Mine and East Rosebud area had to be airlifted out. The Stillwater Mine is still operational and crews are now able to get in and out.
On Tuesday, Governor Greg Gianforte declared a statewide disaster in Carbon, Park, and Stillwater counties. Other river drainages in western Montana are also experiencing extensive flooding.
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