At state’s request, Missoula deploys incident team to Carbon County for flood response, recovery
At the request of the state and with a disaster declaration in place, Missoula County this week assembled and deployed an incident team to Carbon County to assist with the response and recovery to record-breaking flooding.
While rivers have left their banks in a number of places around Montana, the south-central portion of the state has been hit particularly hard, leaving several communities stranded and facing months, if not years of recovery.
“It's a bad situation those communities are facing – literally cut off from road traffic in some instances and their drinking water compromised, as well as a really long road to recovery with a tremendous amount of public infrastructure that's been damaged, not to mention many private properties,” said Adriane Beck, director of Disaster and Emergency Services for Missoula County.
Beck told Missoula County commissioners on Thursday that the state made a request to the county on Monday morning, asking local DES to assemble an incident management team and deploy it to Carbon County.
The team includes members of emergency management, the Missoula Fire Department, Missoula Rural Fire, Frenchtown fire and expertise from the city's GIS department, along with county public works.
“We've worked really hard over the last seven years to build this capability and capacity within Missoula County so when bad things happen here, we have that capability in-house to deploy an incident management team,” Beck said. “We're humbled when we can offer that assistance to other counties.”
Heavy rains and winter runoff prompted rivers in southwestern Montana to rapidly rise, and the results have had devastating results. Yellowstone National Park closed all access early in the week and isn't likely to open the park's northern reach this year, given the extent of damage.
Towns like Red Lodge and Gardiner have suffered similar impacts with roads and bridges vanishing under the torrent of water. Some have lost power and water systems have been compromised.
In response, the state declared a disaster on Tuesday and both Montana's U.S. Senators have pledged support. The Governor's Office on Wednesday asked the Biden administration for a major disaster declaration, which could release federal funding and support if approved.
The Governor's Office has estimated the damage at $29 million.
“It's really gratifying for the (incident team) to be able to go into these communities to help their counterparts, who are just exhausted, and being able to give them some reprieve and set them up for what's going to be a long summer and fall,” Beck said. “Right now, the situation in Missoula County is pretty stable, so we have the capacity to offer that assistance and feel compelled to do so.”
Beck said Missoula County has deployed an incident team only a handful of times in the past. The team was sent to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation during the pandemic to aid the tribe in the continuity of government operations. It also participated in hurricane recovery in Florida.
She said the state will reimburse the county's cost and, when asked, she said the absence of Gov. Greg Gianforte from Montana hasn't impacted the flood response. The Governor's Office hasn't disclosed Gianforte's location.
“It's been a fluid process,” she said. “They were able to contact his office and get the necessary authorities and approvals to declare a state disaster, and that occurred on Monday, which is what opened the opportunity for the state to request and deploy our team to aid those counties.”