Blackfoot River

A 44 year-old Anaconda woman has drowned on the Blackfoot River.

Float-in campsites now available on the Blackfoot River.

Montana officials say eight people have drowned in the state so far this year compared with three in all of 2010. That includes three in the past week. On July 5, an Oregon woman visiting family in Missoula drowned after being washed from a raft on the Blackfoot River...

Missoula Sheriff's Department Detective Captain Rich Maricelli has released the name of the 70 year-old woman who drowned after a rafting accident Tuesday afternoon on the Blackfoot River. The woman's name is Maxcine Viola Smith of Gresham, Oregon. I spoke with Detective Maricelli about the incident on Wednesday afternoon. Parts lof that interview are attached.

Authorities say a woman in her 60s was killed in a rafting accident on the swollen Blackfoot River near Missoula. Missoula County Sheriff's Detective Jason Johnson says the woman fell into the river when the raft she was in hit a rapid near the Paws Up resort at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Witnesses saw the woman a short time later floating face down in the river.

After several days of heavy rain, The Clark Fork river overflowed it's banks in Western Montana causing flooding problems in low-lying areas. However, according to Corby Nickerson with The National Weather service in Missoula, the Clark Fork will be calming a bit over the next few days.

The photos were taken from St. Patrick Hospital's Life Flight Helicopter and provided by Missoula County.

These photos were taken at The Sha-Ron Fishing Access  and bridge in east Missoula along the Clark Fork River. This was a good spot to view the massive amounts of debris floating downstream due to the flooding on the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers...

Trent Smith with the National Weather Service says the Blackfoot River is high but still below it's banks. The Bitterroot River will reach flood stage soon and the Clark Fork River is already above flood stage.