With temperatures into the 80’s in western Montana, the temptation to grab the float tubes and hit the river can be irresistible, however, officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks urge caution after the just finished flood season.
Continuous rain in the Clark Fork basin could cause the river to rise by as much as a foot and a half to about the nine foot level by Wednesday evening.
After a boater went missing last weekend on the Clark Fork River between Clinton and Turah, sheriff’s office officials are asking boaters to think twice before tackling the still swollen and fast moving river.
Missoula County Search and Rescue crews suspended their search late Sunday afternoon for a 70 year-old man who was one of two men who capsized in a drift boat on Saturday.
At a public meeting on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., residents in the areas that have been forced out of their homes will get information about what will happen when they are allowed to return.
After several long weeks away from their homes, over 60 families displaced by the Clark Fork River flood of 2018 may be allowed to return home sometime next week, conditions permitting.
As western Montana heads back to work and school after the long pleasant Memorial Day holiday weekend, area rivers are still at flood stage, but the worst seems to be over.
While the floods of 2018 have hit and retreated from their highest levels in a hundred years, another danger buried for over half a century near the former Smurfit mill site sits waiting.
One of the most significant effects of the Clark Fork River flooding is the danger of toxic materials stored for the last half-century in the old Smurfit settling ponds that are separated from the swollen river by only a series of earthen berms, being released into the river.
A brief respite from the flood waters of the Clark Fork River is allowing homeowners who have been evacuated a few precious hours to check on their property, keep pumps running and retrieve medications.