North Fork road reopens; Sun Road still closed

With the rain stopping overnight, flood waters near Blankenship and the Canyon are receding. The North Fork Road reopened to vehicle traffic about noon today. The Sun Road remained closed at Apgar, however, except for park personnel and guests to the Lake McDonald Lodge.

There was still water flowing over the Blankenship Road about 9:30 a.m. this morning, however. All told, upwards of 25 to 50 homes were impacted to some degree by flooding. No homes appeared to be completely inundated, though several had flooded basements and yards.

Homes on Rabe Road still had water running through their properties on Tuesday morning.

“We have opened up all the county roads with advisory signs that there may be water on the road,” Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said. “The only county road that has water on it is Blankenship Road. There may be some water on the roadway, but it’s come down quite a bit.”

Curry said those traveling Blankenship Road should still use caution.

“I’d like to remind people to be safe any time there is water on the roadway,” Curry said. “It doesn’t take a lot of flowing water to carry a vehicle off the side or a person off the side. Just be cautious.”

Along U.S. Highway 2 near Trumble Creek, the creek had flooded fields and several homes had water ponding in yards. There was water ponding in Martin City and part of the playground was flooded.

Sunny skies had returned by Tuesday afternoon, though there is a chance of rain every day this week and a wet weekends is expected as well.

With the rain will likely come mosquitoes. The region went from very dry conditions to downright soggy, as places like Coram nearly 6.5 inches of rain from Saturday to Monday.