Flood — Gallatin, Montana

2023-04-10 to 2023-04-13 · near Chestnut, Gallatin, Montana

Event narrative

Churchill area saw pretty good runoff occur. Several locations around Amsterdam (Camp and Godfrey Creeks) had water up against houses. The Highline Canal near Gallatin Gateway overtopped in several locations due to runoff. One house and Axtell Anceny Road were affected. Residents on Dry Creek Road and Swamp Creek Road had flood water around houses. This caused the evacuation of the Bootstrap Ranch. County Roads had several roads closed with water on them.

Wider weather episode

Unseasonably warm temperatures occurred in the first two weeks of April, with highs near 80 degrees occurring at times. These warm temps, along with occasional rain, resulted in melting of a deep snowpack on top of frozen ground which led to significant runoff into area waterways. Moderate to major flooding occurred along portions of the Milk River and its tributaries. Impactful snowmelt flooding also occurred across Southcentral Montana, in particular across the Gallatin Valley.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.5999, -110.9622)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1096960. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.