Many need help after flooding
With an eye toward significant flooding across much of Eastern Montana, we’re feeling fortunate so far, but concerned about what the weeks ahead may hold in store for this side of the state.
Floodwaters have swamped homes and roads in Yellowstone, Fergus and Big Horn counties, among other places. Major stretches of highways have been closed by flooding, too.
The Montana Red Cross has opened shelters to accommodate displaced Eastern Montana families, and earlier had helped people in the Flathead Valley forced out of their homes by high water.
The organization is seeking financial contributions and volunteer help to respond to Montana’s growing flood emergencies.
Those interested in helping can call 1-800-ARC-MONT.
As for the flooding potential in Western Montana, there still is an unusually high snowpack that has yet to melt out. Gov. Brian Schweitzer put it well in saying last week: “We’ll prepare for the worst and pray for the best.”
NATURAL DISASTER on an even larger and more tragic scale unfolded with a fury in the nation’s heartland this week with devastating tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and elsewhere.
In Joplin alone, 125 people were killed and 900 injured, plus thousands of people’s lives were disrupted by cataclysmic damage to homes, businesses, schools and even a hospital.
Imagine 125 people dying in a single event in the Flathead Valley and you can conjure up the trauma Joplin residents are going through.
Our hearts go out to these tornado victims and we wish them well in rebuilding their city and their lives.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT that Jim and Debbie Peterson are opening a new Ford dealership at the old Kari Dodge location is good news for Evergreen, for Kalispell and for Ford.
Valley Ford will be a partnership between the Petersons and two long-time California Ford dealers. It is the first Ford dealership in Kalispell since the venerable Rygg Ford franchise suspended operations, and will employ as many as 35 people.
The Petersons already owned the building, which had been remodeled in fine fashion in 2007. It will be good to see cars and trucks back on the lot, and is a promising sign for a re-invigorated Evergreen business economy in the coming decade.
Best of luck to all involved.