Mineral County spared from major floods

Mineral County has been spared this year from any real big flooding said Missoula National Weather Service hydrologist Ray Nicolas.

Even with warm weather in the forecast, Nicolas said most the snow near Look Out Pass has already melted out. A little bit of snow remains up at Look Out, but Nicolas said it doesn’t appear the rivers in Mineral County have been affected to any large degree by the flood waters across the state.

“It doesn’t look like it will be approaching any flood stage,” Nicolas said. “There’s not much snow left in the St. Regis basin.”

The St. Regis River is currently flowing at 26,000 cubic feet per second, which is over double the seasonal average of 12,000 cfs.

“It is quite a bit above average,” Nicolas said of the St. Regis River. “But it is not anywhere near flood level. Typically, the St. Regis River is the one that gives Mineral County the biggest problems, but it looks like it is in good shape.”

The Clark Fork River has recently been running over 55,000 cfs and at 18 feet, which is a foot below flood stage. Nicolas said the Clark Fork is at a huge level but the impact on Mineral County is nowhere near that of Missoula County.

“There’s not a lot of folks right next to the river,” Nicolas said of Mineral County residents. “At least not to the point where the can get flooded.”

That is good news for St. Regis resident Joe Cantrell.

Last week, Cantrell asked for sand bags from the St. Regis Fire Department to protect his riverfront home. Since then, the water level has stayed down. The only issue Cantrell has had is a massive log floating by his property. Cantrell had to lasso the log before it caused any damage.

Cantrell said he has lived by the river for 15 years, so his is used to the fluctuating water levels. However just to be safe, Cantrell gave in and bought flood insurance for the first time ever this year.

“It helps me sleep better at night,” Cantrell said.

As houses along the rivers in Mineral County are avoiding the floodwaters, Fish Creek Road outside of Alberton, is still under water at milepost 14. Fish Creek broke over the road and washed out a section of road two to three feet deep.

Lolo National Forest Public Affairs Officer Boyd Hartwig said the road by milepost 14 is still closed at this time. Once the water goes down and the forest service can get in and do repairs, Hartwig said. When the water clears out and work begins is unknown for now.

Besides Fish Creek Road on the east side of the county, floodwaters are nonexistent from Alberton to the West End.

West End Volunteer Fire Chief Bruce Charles said he is happy with the water levels in the West End. Charles said the water levels have been slowly residing.

“We don’t want to be overly optimistic,” Charles said. “But things are good on the West End.”