ABSAROKEE- Last summer, workers in Stillwater County cleared away a rockslide that had been a three-year headache for rural residents.
On Friday, the county’s Department of Emergency Services posted a dramatic video of the clearing of the rockfall, which had blocked Stillwater River Roads since June 3, 2015.
Carol Arkell, Stillwater County’s director of emergency services, said she’s used the video in meeting with other county emergency service coordinators statewide about mitigating rockslides in other places.
It was there that another coordinator suggested she share the video so Stillwater County residents could see the work, Arkell said.
The video shows a giant rock falling from road level, then crashing into pieces below.
Before loosening the rocks, workers placed a net at the base of the cliff to capture the falling rock so nothing fell in the Stillwater River, Arkell said.
The rockfall blocked the road about 12 miles west of Absarokee, forcing about a hundred residents to take a 45-minute detour to get into town, she said.
The entire project cost $2.4 million, which included a $1.8 million federal grant and $600,000 from Stillwater County.
The video below shows the fall from the below:
