BUTTE – Butte has plenty of snow, and expected warmer temperatures could mean rapid melting and possible flooding in low lying areas.
“We have a higher temperature on Sunday and Monday, then back down to single digits or even teens for the lows and that will help mitigate some of the issues,” said Dan Dennehy of the office of Emergency Management in Butte.
Still, the county wants to be prepared for any heavy runoff as Metro Sewer crews will be freeing up storm drains this weekend.
“We have mapped out some of the historic problems of flooding where storm drains are typically frozen and they have a piece of equipment that unfreezes them very quickly and hopefully get them moving,” said Dennehy.
Low lying areas south of town in the in Greeley neighborhood tend to get the most flooding.
“Those are the ones that historically have seen water on their streets and sometimes on their property because of the lack of stormwater infrastructure there,” said Dennehy.
The county is offering free sand and free sandbags at its maintenance shop off Civic Center Road. So just come out, bring your own shovel, and fill as many sandbags as you need.
“Kind of a self-serve sandbag operation, so we’ll give you the sand and the sandbags and you’re going to have to fill them up and load them and bring them to wherever you think might be a problem,” said Denney.
But if the warm trend is gradual, there shouldn’t be a problem.
