Orchard Homes Flooding Already Underway with Heavy Rain
Rain has been falling steadily all night around western Montana, according to meteorologist Leeanne Allegretto with the National Weather Service Office in Missoula. She provided the overnight numbers as of 4:00 a.m.
“A combination of the thunderstorms we just had and the persistent rainfall has led to about a half to a full inch of rain anywhere from Butte all the way over to East Missoula, and here in Missoula we’ve gotten almost 8/10ths of an inch of rain in the past 12 hours,” said Allegretto.
Allegretto said the Clark Fork has officially exceeded its flood stage of about seven feet.
“The Clark Fork overnight went past the minor flood stage which is 7.5 feet, and it is now currently 7.86 feet,” she said. “The forecast is for it to rise to moderate flood stage, which is 11 feet, overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning.”
With the rising river levels, some of the streets in the Orchard Homes area are already experiencing high water.
“There is running flash standing water in the Orchard Homes area,” she said. “That happens once we get around that seven foot mark, upwards of seven and a half up to eight feet and it starts to get a little higher, a little faster. I haven’t heard anything else during these overnight hours, but that’s going to be the focus of today’s shifts here, for sure.”
Missoula County passed an emergency proclamation for flooding on Tuesday.