Weather Wise: Now that It's dry-part 2

Rising waters last June certainly brought our community together, with strangers helping neighbors and county officials pulling on their own boots to help fill sand bags. Now, almost a year later, those same individuals are still pulling together to prevent future flooding, Now that it's Dry.

After the biggest flood in years, it was obvious repair work needed to be done. But with so many pieces, it was difficult to know where to start.

"The whole thing is big, so we have to figure out how to prioritize…where do you get the funding," says County Commissioner Derek Brown.

So county officials like Paul Spengler, Derek Brown, and Eric Griffin came together with concerned citizens to create a game plan.

"We've had 3 public meetings out at the west valley fire station since the flood of June of last 2011," says Griffin, Director of the Lewis and Clark County Public Works.

"I joked with people just before the beginning of this last meeting, and I said we must be putting on a really good show, because we have a full house every time," says Commissioner Brown.

After hours of deliberation and planning, several projects were outlined and labeled either short-term or long-term. Out of 54 short-term projects, Public Works has already knocked out 28 of them.  
 
"The Lincoln Gulch project was a big culvert and a big wash out we had up in Lincoln country. a lot of them are stream banks," says Griffin.

Fema is paying for more than two thirds of the short-term projects on the list, the remaining third is being funded by the county.  And these projects haven't just been taking place in the valley.

"Some bridges in Elk Creek in Augusta Country, Stemple Pass Road, Lincon G0ulch in Lincoln, Beaver Creek up in Austin... Up above Helena, south of town, Grizzly Gulch and then also too, work out there in the central valley."

Griffin says they have been balancing flood projects with their existing duties of plowing, sweeping, patching and grading, so the projects take a while.

"It's my feeling that people are pretty positive, they are pretty understanding that we can't fix and deal with anything all at one time."
 
But not everything is a quick fix. And major work still needs to be done in the valley.  After hours of designing and deliberating, officials have created four major projects. These projects will have price tags in the ten to hundreds of thousands range, and will take years to complete. Next week we will cover those projects in depth. And now, you're a little more Weather Wise. 

To see a full list of the short term projects Public Works will be completing. Click here.

Story by Ellen Bacca, Beartooth NBC.
Sponsored by Collision Pro of Helena.
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