HELENA — Flooding hit hard over the weekend across Montana, from small streams to urban areas to roads completely washed out.
An already water-logged ground could not handle heavy rain and additional snowmelt, causing high water through creeks, rivers, across roads, and throughout low-lying areas.
The Tizer Botanical Gardens in the Elkhorn Mountains south of Helena were hit hard by flood waters Saturday, the worst flooding there in more than a decade. Employees and volunteers worked together to put down sandbags to reroute the water.
The gardens are currently closed but they do anticipate opening later this week. Prickly Pear and Tenmile creeks in Helena were both running high with water up to the banks.
Major flooding affected northeast Montana on the Hi-Line through Hinsdale. For a while, U.S. Highway 2 was closed and a BNSF Railway track inspector reported multiple locations of track material completely washed out.
The Jefferson River, the Mussellshell, the Milk, and parts of the Missouri had or are having flooding.
Over the last 30 days, most of Montana has had above-average precipitation with some areas showing rainfall that's 200% to over 300% of normal.
Over the next week, some parts of Montana could see another 1" to as much as 4" of additional rain.
More of Montana will flood. Remember, if you encounter floodwater over a road turn around and don't drown.
