HELENA — The power of water was on full display in Marysville, Montana recently. Torrential rain with thunderstorms produced between four to five inches over the course of a couple of days and water was everywhere.
Water raced down the surrounding mountains right into the historic ghost town. Rocks, boulders and debris were strewn across yards. Water flowing at just 4mph produces a force sufficient to move boulders up to five feet in diameter and can generate at least 1.34 horsepower per square meter of water.
Roads were washed out and new human-sized deep trenches were created by the powerful water. Just imagine this full of water, which is the reason the phrase "turn around, don't drown" is said when encountering flood water over a road, because it is difficult to determine the depth of water.
Most of Montana has had a very wet spring and some locations may come close to record rainfall for the month of June when all is said and done. The ground is saturated and at this point cannot hold much more water.
Additional heavy rain in mountainous regions of the state could lead to more flash flooding and scenes like this. It's been one heck of a spring.
