Many Glacier Hotel escapes major damage

The Daily Inter Lake

Last week's flooding at the Many Glacier Hotel turned out not to be as bad as it looked.

"We really didn't have hardly any damage. We were very fortunate," said Cindy Ognjanov, president of Glacier Park Inc., the concessions contractor that operates the historic hotel.

Photos taken Nov. 7 showed that Swiftcurrent Lake had risen far above its normal level, to where it appeared to be swamping the lower floor of the hotel. The lake flowed over the main access road to the hotel, creating a huge waterfall into Swiftcurrent Creek.

Because of the water on the road, the hotel was temporarily inaccessible.

"We were able to get in the next day and as soon as they got the power on, we were able to use extractors to get the water out," Ognjanov said, referring to powerful wet vacuums that were used.

She said staffers from GPI's engineering office estimated that rooms in the lower floor had only 3 to 6 inches of water, and much of that water seeped out as the lake receded.

"It went out about as fast as it came in," she said.

At the most, some carpets might have to be replaced, Ognjanov said.

The heavy rain also caused significant damage to Going-to-the-Sun Road, including at least three washouts in the East Tunnel area - the largest taking out both lanes for 103 feet. West of Logan Pass, there was a large debris slide in the Haystack Creek drainage.

Glacier Park and Federal Highway Administration officials are still assessing damage along the length of Sun Road. No cost estimates have been made, but on Monday, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., requested emergency funding to pay for the damage.

Baucus is concerned about how the damage may affect progress on a major reconstruction of Sun Road that is expected to start next year.

He said emergency funding is needed as soon as possible to "keep our work on the historic road from taking a large step backward."