With the warm and cold snaps and increasing moisture in western Montana over the past few weeks, there is concern that flooding of Lolo Creek may occur.

Director of the Office of Emergency Management, Adriane Beck, said the concern involves conditions that are typical for this time of year.

“As we transition fro colder to a little bit warmer weather and we start to see some break-up of ice in the rivers and streams in our area, there’s a potential for ice jams to occur with water that flows over the top,” Beck said. “We’re seeing very minor issues right now in the Lolo Creek area. We’ve had some homeowners call in to report that they are noticing that the creek has been rising and there’s water flowing on top of the ice. We’ve has officials out to look over the situation and there’s no property damage and no immediate threats to property at this time.”

Beck asks homeowners in the area to be vigilant and keep an eye on rising waters.

“We always encourage homeowners to pay attention to their surroundings and to watch for changing conditions,” she said. “Certainly this weekend we’re anticipating some added precipitation and warmer temperatures. There is some potential for the river to rise and to just look out for those kinds of things and to certainly report any things that might impact public safety.”

Beck encouraged all homeowners in the county to sign up for the Smart 9-1-1 program to stay abreast of any potential or ongoing threat to safety.

“Smart 9-1-1 is the way for individuals to receive emergency alerts on their cell phones,” she said. “If you have a landline phone, you’re already in our system, but if you have a cell phone that is unregistered, you would not receive those alerts that are geo-targeted to your address.”

Missoula County will continue to monitor the situation through the weekend and will provide additional information as necessary.

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