Rain In Flathead County Is Helping Some Roads and Hurting Others

Snow is being measured in feet in Flathead County and now folks are dealing with significant rainfall as well. Emergency Management Planner Rick Sacca says the rain has helped clear some roads, but it has made others more dangerous to travel on.

“Many of the roads, especially the numbered highways, are pretty clear,” said Sacca. “The road crews have done a fabulous job, but where it is a problem is on the side streets and walkways. It took that snow and helped compress it down a little bit and turned it into large chunks of ice. We have several roads and walking areas that have several inches of ice.”

Sacca says they are still having a tough time getting the avalanche debris cleared off in the John F. Stevens Canyon area, which is along the Highway 2 Corridor and BNSF Railway.

“There are trains stacked up and ready to go, but they have a tremendous amount of material that has fallen down from the avalanche, the several avalanches they are clearing from the tracks,” Sacca said. “Highway 2 is looking pretty clear and we are hoping that MDT is going to able to finish their efforts and maybe get that open.”

According to Sacca, road crews in Flathead County have done a great job monitoring clogged drains and areas of standing water to prevent any significant flooding events.