Some Evacuated Homes Still Inaccessible due to Flooding

Many residents evacuated due to flooding of the Clark Fork River are making repairs and preparing to move beck in, several are still inaccessible due to high water.

Adriane Beck, Director of the Missoula County Office of Emergency Management, said there are several that still cannot be reached except by boat.

“There are a handful of homes at the far end of Nancy Lou, as well as the homes on Kehrwald Drive and Channel Drive that were still inaccessible as of this morning (Thursday),” said Beck. “We do have folks out today attempting to get onto those properties and do those curbside exterior assessments. Officials are out today working on Schmidt Road and Off Mullan Road, as well as attempting to make those assessments on Kehrwald and Nancy Lou.”

Beck said progress is being made on assessing and repairing water damage to Harper’s Bridge Road.

“They were able to get out to Harper’s Bridge Road on Tuesday and were able to issue those green and yellow placards to those areas, so those homeowners are able to go back in there. If they do receive a yellow placard, Missoula County Public Works can come out and do an interior inspection with the homeowner present to give them recommendations as to what additional work may be required to get their house back to normal.”

Beck said there are several organizations that can help homeowners to get their homes ready to move back in.

“Currently, we are coordinating what we’re calling MARC, which stands for Multi Agency Recovery Center,” she said. “That will be on Wednesday, June 13, at the Salvation Army located on North Russell. The purpose of the MARC is to put property owners that have been affected by this disaster in contact with either governmental agencies and or non governmental agencies that may be able to assist them in that process.”