Farmer Jon Turner sometimes needs a canoe to cross his property in the spring. He parks his ATV next to a steep cliff above the river and points to a knot of barbed wire in the rushing water below.
“That used to be the fenceline. That used to be land,” Turner says. “The river does what it’s going to do, and eventually, it’s going to keep taking all of this stuff.”
Missoula County’s draft flood risk map shows areas most likely to be underwater in a large flood that occurs once in a hundred years, on average. Many homeowners added to the floodplain will have to buy flood insurance. They’ll need to get county permits to make changes to their properties, from building a shed to putting on an addition.
County floodplain administrator Matt Heimel says he knows the requirements can feel burdensome to homeowners. But he says it’s a matter of public safety.
“We’re kind of glossing over the underlying risk and the tragic consequences that can come if we’re not prepared,” Heimel says.
A flood in 2018 waterlogged many houses in Orchard Homes. But Heimel says that flood pales in comparison to the last major event in 1908. A month of near-nonstop rain washed out the city’s bridges and destroyed homes. It’s the kind of 100-year flood the new map is designed to warn residents about.
Back in Orchard Homes, Jon Turner welcomes the update.
“You can use it for agriculture, you can use it for recreation, but to try to change the path of the water — we shouldn’t be messing with that. That’s not us,” Turner says.
More than a dozen other counties in the state are also revising their flood risk maps. Missoula will hold public meetings on its draft map early next year.
