LIBBY — Citizens of Libby packed the Dome Theater on Saturday to have their questions about recent floods answered by public officials.
Many of the inquiries were directed at recent news that the Lower Flower Creek Dam could possibly fail, with some confusing it with the much larger Upper Flower Creek Dam.
"When the information came out on Facebook, this is the dam that everybody thought was failing," Lincoln County Sheriff Darren Short said. "This dam is intact and is in great shape."
Watch to learn what was discussed at the Libby town hall:
The Lower Flower Creek Diversion Dam is still at risk, but officials aimed to ease some anxiety.
"The amount of water that's held back in this is pretty insignificant," Short said. "Even if this completely went away, the amount of water that we would see in town would probably be in the inches."
Officials acknowledged the flooding exceeded expectations.
"Advisories were that we were going to get some issues, but it was significantly greater than anything that ever came across the telephone to me," Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Boyd White said.
Citizens were also made aware of the timeline and cost for potential state and federal funding.
"The state has declared [a] disaster and is working on pushing it up to the federal government," White said. "And some of that is based off of we gotta start getting estimates on our disaster, but as Sheriff Short reiterated, it's going to be in the tens of millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it's like a hundred million, it's huge."
With up to two more inches of rain in the forecast in the coming days, Sheriff Short discussed what the community of Libby can do to help.
"Look out for your neighbors, if you know somebody who has health issues, has problems and could possibly be impacted by the floods, check on your neighbors," Short said.
Officials say the best way to get up-to-date information is to check the Lincoln County Health Department's Facebook page.
