7 Day Forecast
The ice jams along the Bighorn River that caused flooding in Crow Agency that forced closure of I-90 from Hardin to the Wyoming state line have been unyielding, and floodwaters could remain for days.
“If all the ice were to get out of there and the river were to go back to free flowing, it could go down quickly,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Nickolai Reimer. “They’re just not something we can predict, exactly when they will break.”
And as temperatures reach well into the 60s on Tuesday, additional snow melt could add to the dammed water.
“We’re not seeing anything that looks like we’re going to see the river drop,” Reimer said.
The Crow Tribe set up an incident command center in Crow Agency and urged travelers not to try to cross flooded roadways or go around barricades. The tribe has been fielding calls and working to assist people, some of them in remote locations or without drinking water due to recently repaired water mains in Crow Agency that have yet to be deemed safe to drink from by the EPA, according to tribal official Jared Stewart.
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A Red Cross shelter has been set up in the town of Hardin at the First United Methodist Church on Fifth Street West. People in need of help on the Crow Reservation can call incident command dispatch at 406-638-2247.
Water levels on the Bighorn River near Hardin surged again Sunday to about 9.6 feet after initially leveling off about a foot lower. The water has dropped slightly Monday, but snow melt could add to the floodwaters.
I-90 was closed on Saturday as the floodwaters rose. But conditions created by snow melt and ice jams has affected roads across rural southeast Montana.
Highway 323 between Ekalaka and Alzada was close because of water on the road.
In flood warning statements, the weather service said that several back roads in Bighorn, Powder River, and Carter counties were closed because of flooding or wash outs.
The weather service also issued a flood warning for the Musselshell River at Lavina in Golden Valley County. The river was expected to fall below flood stage Monday night.
In Musselshell County, Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Floyd Fisher said that several ice jams were moving through local waterways but that "at this moment things are looking okay" in a Monday morning social media post on the agency's page.
The weather service said it's received reports of localized flooding along the Yellowstone River near Billings, ice jams near the Duck Creek bridge, and flooding on Pryor Creek.
Several rural roads in Stillwater County were closed because of flooding or washouts, including: North Stillwater Road, Nye Cemetary Road, Whistle Creek Lane, South Grove Creek Road, Valley Creek Road, Rapelje-Molt Road, Lower Grove Creek Road, Hailstone Road, Downer Road, and Wheatbasin Road.
The National Weather Service in Glasgow also issued flood warning for the Milk River in Valley and Philips counties, predicting flooding would threaten the area through at least Friday. Several low-lying areas are already underwater.
GLASGOW — There were four full days of flooding ahead and already the Milk River was lapping at the silt behind Jim McIntyre’s barn.