BILLINGS — Billings has been hit with another flood advisory Friday, leading city workers to prep storm drains ahead of another potential round of flooding.
"After the last storm that we had, we went through and cleaned out most of the inlet grates. All the problem areas that we had, we went through and corrected those," said Derick Miller, the street and traffic superintendent for the city of Billings. "We had some plugged pumps. We got those taken care of, back up and running again. So everything’s ready to go for the next storm."
Miller said the city cleans out inlets and drains after a storm, but the June 3 rain created too much water for the city's storm system to handle.
“After every rainstorm that we get, it knocks debris down. All the debris that you see out on the road always ends up over a storm inlet. So we have to go around to all of those after every storm, clean them all out, and get the debris off the top of them so they’ll drain as they're supposed to,” Miller said. "This last storm was just a lot of rain in a short period of time, and it just overwhelmed everything."
Miller said he doesn't believe Billings will see flooding this weekend, but if it does happen, the city will be prepared.
Residents affected by the early June flooding are afraid of what this weekend could hold.
“We were going to move in Friday. Friday morning, we realized we had a roof leak, so we had to postpone our move. And then overnight Friday night into Saturday, I got a phone call, saying there’s water flowing in through the windows," said Ryan Clubb, the campus director at Adult and Teen Challenge-Pacific Northwest, about the early June flooding. "There were six to eight inches of water in the basement already. It was just pouring in through the windows and the walls. The creeks had overflowed onto the property."
Adult and Teen Challenge-Pacific Northwest was getting ready to move into its new West End campus when the flood hit, filling the buildings with rushing water.
“Well, it can be discouraging. There’s no doubt about that. We did put a lot of work in there. We still are very excited and know that that’s going to be a really good property for us. I see it as just a delay,” Clubb said. “I’ve had a lot of support from the community reaching out, saying hey we want to help you guys. So we’ve got crews."
The repairs are still underway and have been costly. Clubb believes the new campus will be ready to open within the next few months.
“For mitigation alone, we’re looking at $30,000," Clubb said. "We’re somewhere probably in the $100,000 range. And that doesn’t even include all of the equipment we lost.”
Clubb remains positive and says this is nothing the nonprofit can't handle.
To view this weekend's weather forecast, click here.
“If we do get that amount of rain, it’s going to flood again, unfortunately," Miller said. "But we’re as prepared as we can be for the next storm."
