MONTANA GRAPPLES WITH HEAVY FLOODING

Montana’s largest city restarted its water plant Thursday after shutting it down amid record flooding that’s caused widespread damage in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding communities.

Residents in ravaged areas, meanwhile, cleaned up from the mess and braced for the economic fallout while the park remains closed at the height of tourist season. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Montana, ordering federal assistance be made available.

The city of Billings had asked residents to conserve water because it was down to a limited supply when the Yellowstone River hit record high levels and triggered the closure of the treatment plant.

“We are aware yesterday’s alert to the community caused a panic. That was never our hope,” city officials said in a statement Thursday. “We have never witnessed a situation like the one we saw yesterday. We did not know how bad it could get or how long it would continue.”

The floodwaters continued to move downstream and by this morning were expected to reach Miles City in eastern Montana.

Local authorities said low-lying areas along the river could be flooded but there was no immediate risk to the city of more than 8,000 people.

Officials had asked Billings residents Wednesday to conserve water because it was down to a 24- to 36hour supply after a combination of heavy rain and rapidly melting mountain snow raised the Yellowstone River to historic levels that forced them to shut the treatment plant.

“None of us planned a 500-year flood event on the Yellowstone when we designed these facilities,” said Debi Meling, the city’s public works director.

The city of 110,000 stopped watering parks and boulevards, and its fire department filled its trucks with river water.

Normal operations resumed Thursday after the river level began to drop. It crested Wednesday at more than a foot above the previous recorded high in Billings in 1997.

The unprecedented and sudden flooding earlier this week drove all but a dozen of the more than 10,000 visitors out of the nation’s oldest park.