Highway 35 reopens after mudslide

The Associated Press

Heavy weekend rain in and around the Flathead Valley wiped out bridges and roads, stranding some families, but officials said emergency conditions were subsiding on Monday.

Both lanes of Montana 35 were open Monday morning, after a mudslide Saturday closed part of the highway along the east shore of Flathead Lake. Officials anticipated another closure Monday evening to allow road repair.

Late Sunday, emergency crews were helping 14 families trapped on the flooded side of a road east of Ronan, and three other families were cut off by high water elsewhere, officials said. Curtis Matt, information officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said the families were no longer in distress Monday, and either were in their homes or were staying with relatives or friends.

No injuries were reported.

"I think everything's going to be OK until the weather bites again on Wednesday," when another storm is forecast, Matt said Monday.

He said the flooding had left some households without safe drinking water, and there were efforts to help them obtain bottled water. Matt said two bridges were out and some roads in the Ronan and St. Ignatius areas were closed.

To the south, at Missoula, National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Nester said forecasts call for wet, soggy and cloudy conditions through the week.

"The Mission Mountains could easily see an additional inch or two of rain this week," Nester said.

In the Helena Valley, wind Sunday evening ripped the roof off a mobile home occupied by a couple, their adult daughter and her family. No one was injured. The American Red Cross was called to help the family.