Harley Holmes, 8, right, helps his brother Creek, 3, put on his shoes as the family gathers to leave his home, which was damaged by severe flooding in Fromberg, Mont, Friday. (David Goldman, Associated Press)
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Fromberg, Mont. – As officials struggle to reopen Yellowstone National Park to tourists after record floods hit southern Montana, some of the worst affected by the disaster live far from the spotlight of the famous park and lean heavily on each other to save their lives. from the mud.
In and around Fromberg’s agricultural community, the Clark Fork River flooded nearly 100 homes and severely damaged a large irrigation ditch that serves many farms. The mayor says about a third of the flooded homes have gone too far to be repaired.
Not far from the riverbank, Lindy O’Brien’s trailer home was built high enough to avoid major damage. But she received water in barns and sheds, lost some of her poultry, and saw the home of her recently deceased parents flooded with several feet of water.
Selected officers who showed up to tour the damage at Red Lodge and Gardiner, Montana’s tourist towns that serve as gates to Yellowstone, did not reach Fromberg to see its devastation. O’Brien said the lack of attention was not a surprise, given the city’s location away from major tourist routes.
She said she was not outraged, but resigned herself to the idea that if Fromberg recovered, its roughly 400 residents would have to do much of the work themselves.
“We take care of each other,” O’Brien said as she and two longtime friends, Melody Murter and Eileen Rodgers, combed mud-covered objects scattered around her property. O’Brien, a local art teacher, was correcting. his parents’ home in hopes of turning it into a vacation rental. Now she is not sure she can be saved.
“When you get tired and tired, it’s good to stop,” O’Brien told Merter and Rodgers, whose clothes, hands and faces were stained with mud.
Yellowstone will partially open at 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than a week after more than 10,000 visitors were forced to leave the park as Yellowstone and other rivers crossed their banks after swelling from melting snow and a few inches precipitation.
But the northern half of the country’s oldest national park, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is expected to remain closed in the summer, if not longer, along with one of the park’s main entrances through Montana. The closure will deprive visitors of seeing Tower Fall and Lamar Valley, one of the world’s best places to see wolves and grizzly bears.
Meanwhile, outside the settlements bordering the park, there is a maze of damaged roads. A key bridge leading to the town of Fishtale collapsed, leading to traffic diversion across the single-lane ring road. There are about 500 people in Fishtail.
Lee Johnson and his wife and daughter run the MontAsia restaurant, so named because it is a mix of Malaysian and Montana cuisine. He said the business had collapsed.
“When we opened for the first time after the flood, everything just started to die. And this feeling of fear begins to creep in. Did I do all this, did I sink all that money, did I start this business and people can’t even get here anymore? “Johnson said.
Johnson and his Malaysian wife, Yoki, took over the lease of the remarkable 124-year-old Fishtail building earlier this year, relocating their restaurant from another part of the state. For Yoki, business was a dream come true.
“I’m not from Montana, I wanted to own something,” she said. Her biggest goal was to start a business with her family. Yoki said running the restaurant gives her strength as she fights cancer.
“I’m not sure how much time I have left, so the time I have left, I want to be with my family, to work with them every day, to see them every day,” she said.
Johnson said he was humbled by the chance to support his wife and was determined to keep the restaurant open while the flood damage was repaired.
“You’re attaching your cart to this community and it’s just a matter of continuing,” he said.
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Matthew Brown and Brittany Peterson
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