Severe Storms pound Blaine County, Lodge Pole Floods
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Blaine County experienced some severe weather this past week with violent thunderstorms bringing golf ball size hail and significant rainfall to various parts of the county. Depending on where you were the amount of moisture received varied but everywhere got a significant amount. Severe wind accommodated the storms as well with gusts as high as 90 mph being recorded.
Wednesday night saw significant rainfall deluge the Lodge Pole area with significant flash flooding as a result. Storms continued through Saturday night with high winds and large amounts of rainfall, wind and lightning. Delina Cuts The Rope, Fort Belknap Tribal DES coordinator, stated that flash flooding from Lodge Pole Creek had led to compromised wells, damaged cisterns and water supplies leading to an immediate boil water order and an incident command center being established at the Chief Nosey Center in Lodge Pole.
Various accounts estimate that between 6-8" of rainfall saturated the area from the nightly storms. The Pine Grove fire burned nearly 19,000 acres near Lodge Pole, eliminating a significant amount of vegetation that would have helped prevent any flash flooding. The mountainsides as result became a slide for water to gush down and overwhelm Lodge Pole Creek leading to the flooding. Large amounts of debris came down the hillside during the flood leading to increased damage to property and roadways as well.
"A lot of people in the area are not connected to the main water system and have wells that were damaged, the area had been so dry for so long that they had become compromised," said Cuts The Rope. The Fort Belknap DES has been working with the Red Cross, Montana State Disaster Emergency Services and other Agencies to assist the are in the recovery process. The Fort Belknap Tribal Council passed a Declaration of Emergency that was filed with the Montana DES that will allow for a coordinated effort to allocate available resources based on needs available to the Fort Belknap Incident Command to participate in a FEMA event.
"I am very grateful to all the volunteer efforts and our Tribal DES they really stepped forward and assisted our Tribal members where needed. I'm really proud of how everyone came together to help each other out and everyone had access to clean drinking water. Law enforcement had tremendous, coordinated effort as well in helping everyone out at the initial onset of the flooding and getting the information out to the appropriate residents as needed," said Cuts The Rope.
The Lodge Pole and Hays communities experienced a number of short power outages as did many parts of Blaine County. Friday night about 9:00 p.m. the community of Hays lost power and remained without until Saturday afternoon. Elizabeth HorseCapture Azure, Fort Belknap DES Incident Commander for the Lodge Pole Flooding and Lodge Pole and Hays Power Outage 'We had a incident command center set up in Hays do to the power outage at the Kills at Night Center where we provided drinking water and electricity for people with medical needs. People with oxygen needs could use the power supplied by a generator to accommodate them."
Lode Pole remains on a boil water order as of Sunday night as they are awaiting results from the state. A PSA released by the Fort Belknap Indian Community DES states that ongoing work is still being done to clean up the area and recommends residents refrain from utilizing their wells/water due to possible contamination. It is also recommended that residents refrain from using their septic systems and that the Tribe has portable potties set up at each home. Drinking water is still available at the chief Nosey Center for the time being, and it is encouraged that residents follow these protocols for the next two weeks. Roadways have been cleared by Fort Belknap Tribal Construction led by William 'Bill' Main II.
