HELENA – As summer approaches, work is underway across parts of Lewis and Clark County in effort to reduce the risk of flooding.
Helena Valley’s flood mitigation work has been clearing snow and ice from culverts last week. Crews have been working in the area of Rossiter Elementary, off of Sierra and Center drive.
The area was among the hardest hit locally in the 2017 spring floods.
It is part of the $2.5-million trap club project and will guide future improvements to the retention pond at the trap club.
Doug Nisbet, Operations Superintendent for Lewis and Clark County Road Works Department stated, “Last week we started going out to Helena Valley in flood prone areas and we are clearing the snow from the inlets and the outlets of all culverts so it helps facilitate any run off that we might get.”
“We always have to be prepared for what might happen; we try to do this project annually in the valley to help with that water,” Nisbet continued.
The county says Northwestern Energy is lowering a gas line in the area to allow for larger culverts to better handle runoff and plans to update its Helena Valley flood mitigation master plan.
The county received a flood mitigation grant from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) last fall to help cover the cost of updating the plan.
