Friday, June 10, 2011

Flooding overwhelms Montana, supplies ferried in

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110610/ap_on_re_us/us_western_flooding;_ylt=ApfKyXgVIZxS6gfLPmz7XjWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlbjA3Ym81BHBvcwM2NARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3Vfc19uZXdzBHNsawNmbG9vZGluZ292ZXI-

By MATTHEW BROWN and STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press – 1 hr 28 mins ago
BILLINGS, Mont. – Emergency workers ferried supplies to more than 300 people cut off Friday by flooding that has overwhelmed Montana towns and caused an estimated $8.6 million in damages to date.

Heavy rain and the runoff from record mountain snowpack have caused rivers over much of the West to spill from their banks. Montana has been hit particularly hard over the past few weeks, with hundreds of homes inundated and scores of roadways swamped.

River levels were retreating throughout the state on Friday, but more rain this weekend was expected to cause flood waters to linger across southeastern Montana.

There, roads washed out by the raging Musselshell River left people in a sprawling rural neighborhood in the hills outside the town of Roundup with no way to get out.

Stranded residents were able to call in grocery orders that emergency officials delivered by boat, said Cassie Degner, a local volunteer firefighter. A trailer filled with water, diapers and other essentials had been brought into the neighborhood before access was lost Wednesday.
Mary Brower, 81, said she had not been able to get into town since May 20 and the roads have further deteriorated since that time.

"They're going to bring in my medications today by, I don't know, rowboat or whatever," said Brower, who suffers from congestive heart failure.

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