BITTERROOT VALLEY — With so much of Western Montana under a Flood Watch for the weekend, you'll want to be prepared.
Officials in some places, like Ravalli County, are offering resources to help you protect yourself and your property.
The Ravalli County Sheriff's Office is urging residents of the Bitterroot Valley to stay prepared and at the Victor and Corvallis fire departments, there are sandbags available to protect your home.
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"There's a chance with all the rain on snow that we could get water in our in our house, in our basement," Victor resident Sharon Barnes told MTN. "We've got one little window well that we are especially concerned with. The yard kind of angles toward it and then it's right up against the house, you know, at ground level."
After a push alert from the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office, Barnes and her husband spent part of Friday afternoon shoveling sand at the Victor Fire Department.
"We want to make sure that we can get our residents advised of the potential so they can prepare," Ravalli County Emergency Management Director Erik Hoover.
Hoover says the flood watch is not due to runoff from the Bitterroot River.
"The river levels as far as the Bitterroot River are very low right now. We don't anticipate that to change and aren't seeing any major issues with ice jamming," he stated.
However, this weekend's alert comes because when lots of snow sits on frozen ground, new rainwater can't get absorbed well. Hoover notes Ravalli County is watching the roads to make sure the public is aware of any major puddles or flooded areas.
"We've got the significant snow accumulations across the valley, even in the higher elevations, we may see some of those effects, the flooding potential and high water in areas that typically don't," Hoover said.
That's why the Victor couple filled around 30 sandbags to potentially divert water from getting close to their home.
"It'll be okay unless it starts raining. But, it's supposed to start raining," Barnes shared.
Sandbags are available for filling throughout the weekend at Victor Fire's Main Station on Meridian and Corvallis's Station 2 on Eastside Highway.
