In the second week of June 1964, the worst natural disaster in Montana’s recorded history occurred in the state. It took the form of heavy rains that in a few hours turned beautiful creeks into raging, mile wide rivers. Dams, roads and railroads washed out. Many homes and ranches were washed away and 30 people died. Two are still missing to this day.
The rains we received in recent days and the earlier rains that occurred in the Lochsa drainage over the hill from us re-enforces the concerns many have about the two dams we have in the valley that have no Early Warning Systems (EWS) installed to give warning in case of a problem at either dam that could cause a failure of the dams which could result in the loss of thousands of lives and billions in property damage.
The 1964 flood reports and history are skewed because the lives lost and most of the property damage occurred on reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs learned from this horrific disaster and installed EWS on every dam that exists on Indian Reservations. I am afraid that this unprotected valley will not learn their lesson and recognize the importance of such systems until a disaster has either befallen the valley or a near disaster has occurred.
In my presentations to groups about the threats that exist, some scoff at what I claim will happen in an inundation of Como Dam or Painted Rocks by either saying that there would not be a 40- to 50-foot wall of water hit the bridge near the hospital and destroy the hospital as well as most of the rest homes in Hamilton as the dam owners’ own studies reveal.
Some say, “Water does not act like that when a dam breaks, there would not be a wall of water, it would spread out and not be a serious problem.”
Others make statements like, “If those dams broke there would be a lot more water than that hit the hospital and bridge and the rest homes.”
The first group apparently isn’t very familiar with the history of dam inundations. Teton Dam broke, flooding a much wider valley floor than the Bitterroot with an 8- to 9-foot wall of water taking homes off their foundations throughout the valley. According to the Corps of Engineers, the Teton Dam was the best built dam in America and would never fail.
The second group could be right but in my presentations, I show the dam owner’s own studies about what would happen in an inundation. It could be worse than their own studies show or it could be better.
The most concerning thing is the government entities involved. The Bureau of Reclamation in respect to Como Dam and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in respect to Painted Rocks are moving away from allowing the public to have the information on the damage that could be done. The local Office of Emergency Management (OEM) under the Ravalli County Sheriff has for many years held Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meetings as required by Federal Law. Those meetings were always open to the public and all possible disasters were openly discussed and considered.
According to the head of the Ravalli County OEM as stated in a tour of the Como Dam recently, the LEPC group was going to only consider Hazardous Material (Hazmat) types of disasters. The history of the LEPC law is that local disaster and law enforcement officials hid possible disasters from the public, resulting in many deaths and great destruction partly because the public was not informed and disaster preparations made. It seems that those who have responsibility to make us safe from surprises on dam failures and other disasters here in the valley are moving backwards towards keeping the public in the dark.
In my opinion, our situation without EWS on the two major dams is partly to blame on the media who seem to be afraid to ask hard questions. I was invited to the tour of Como Dam put on by the Bureau of Reclamation. I asked if it was possible that Como Dam could be inundated overnight. The response from the director was, “It is possible.” He then pulled figures out of the air to try to minimize what that means. It is the responsibility of the local media to ask hard questions and get answers for the public information but they have not done that.
The owners of Como Dam, the Bitter Root Project Irrigation District out of Corvallis, have a responsibility to us to make it as safe as possible to have a dam that makes them money but have systems to protect us in a disaster. The Bureau of Reclamation which oversees the safety of that dam continues to evade putting in early warning systems by giving responses that are similar to what I heard from people that did not wear their seatbelts when I was in law enforcement: “Seatbelts make us less safe and are dangerous.”. One response received from the Bureau officials about putting an EWS on Como was that they don’t put EWS on the dam because it makes us less safe.”
Lorri J. Gray wrote letters to the local papers praising themselves (Reclamation) on their dam safety program but not answering the simple question on why they do not put EWS on the dam since they all admit it could, being an earthen dam, wash out overnight.
The Corps of Engineers in the last inspection of the Painted Rocks Dam allowed by Federal Law in 1980 found that the dam would be over topped and being an earthen dam, wash away, if the projected Probable Maximum Flow reached 54% of probability. The owners of both dams need to take action to put systems on those dams to alert the valley in case of an emergency at the dams. To fail to do so is negligent on the owners’ parts. We, as the public with loved ones in the rest homes and family members and neighbors living in the areas affected by inundations, need to let the owners of those dams know what we expect them to do as well as to contact all our elected officials.
In the 1964 flood, The Great Falls Tribune reported, “One by one Lucille’s [Guardipee] children floated away. The baby first, two-months-old, who had been clinging to Lucille’s neck, and then the others. Then Fay’s little five-year-old floated away. The flood claimed the lives of nine people who had been trapped on the truck, eight of them children.” (Montana’s Worst Natural Disaster – The 1964 Flood on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation). I hope that such an event does not happen here but without Early Warning Systems the possibility exists and is being ignored by all the officials that should care about the safety and welfare of the residents of Ravalli County. Only an honest and forthright media and an engaged citizenry will make those officials do what they should. Will such an event happen? The owners say it is possible. Only God knows but only those who care can mitigate the loss of life in such an event. Please speak up and be heard.
Dallas D. Erickson, SOS the Bitterroot
Stevensville