In June 2022, a Pacific atmospheric river storm pummeled Yellowstone National Park, destroying roads and bridges and flooding gateway communities. In the Flathead, it revived memories of the 1964 flood that devastated northwestern Montana and killed dozens of people. Both storms were so severe that emergency planners consider them unlikely to happen more than once in 500 years.
MSU professor and filmmaker Hugo Sindelar's 54-minute documentary, One in Five Hundred, chronicles the experience of residents and community leaders who faced the Yellowstone floods and their aftermath. Sindelar will be on hand to present his film and join panelists from Yellowstone and Flathead Valley communities to draw lessons from the 2022 and 1964 floods.
With greater intensity of precipitation events across the U.S., Climate Smart Glacier Country and project partners are launching a flood preparedness project to anticipate the flood next time. What are the potential impacts, and how can we act now to minimize the damage? No one can say with any confidence when another 1964-scale flood will recur in the Flathead, but scientists anticipate that such megafloods will happen with increasing frequency.
This community-driven partnership seeks to improve flood awareness and at the same time reduce flood insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses through FEMA's Community Rating System, which rewards communities that go above and beyond minimum flood preparedness requirements to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.
Join us for this free event at 7 p.m. at the Columbia Falls High School Theater. No tickets are required. The event will be hosted by the Columbia Falls High School student Conservation Crew, which will provide refreshments. It is co-sponsored by the Flathead Conservation District, Western Montana Conservation Commission, and Upper Flathead Neighborhood Association.
Paneilists include:
- Moderator Steve Thompson, Climate Smart Glacier Country
- Hugo Sindelar, MSU Associate Professor of Film
- Bill Berg, Retired Park County Commissioner and Gardiner businessman
- Shirley Rogers Folkwein, Columbia Falls civic leader, whose family farm was inundated in 1964
- Bruce Young, Lakeside Realtor, who surveyed the 1964 flood by air with his father
Learn more about the October 23 event at
https://climatesmartglaciercountry.org/2025/09/23/when-the-waters-rise-again-october-23-event-will-launch-flood-preparedness-project/
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