LIBBY — Lincoln County officials held a public meeting Thursday night focusing on winter storm recovery efforts.
Lincoln County was rocked by flooding and major windstorms in December leaving behind millions of dollars in cleanup and repair work.
“You know from talking to other communities who have been through this, a lot of times it’s four to five years before you have these resolved and sometimes longer,” Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Boyd White.
It was a packed house at Libby City Hall Thursday night as dozens of Lincoln County residents asked question to more than 20 local, state and federal agencies.
Flooding and major windstorms in December washed out multiple bridges, roadways and culverts throughout the county.
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“A lot of the questions we didn’t have answers that would make you really feel good, but they were just the answers, and yet they were still just happy to see us and be engaged,” added White.
White said the county is still waiting to hear back from the White House regarding a FEMA Major Disaster Declaration request submitted on January 10.
If approved, that request would provide Lincoln County with $10 million in additional funding for storm cleanup and repair efforts.
“And the temporary emergency work is eligible for reimbursement under the federal assistance if we get that signed and we’re anticipating that we will,” said White.
Officials with the Montana Department of Transportation gave updates on infrastructure repairs and said high priority bridges like Farm-To-Market Road will be expedited with the hope of having the new bridge finished in the next 12 months.
Officials said the new bridge will be double the length of the old bridge more than 300 feet long and will be built to alleviate the choke point on Libby Creek.
Libby resident Cindy Peek spoke at the meeting asking how the community can help mitigate damage from the next major flood.
“Because you know frankly flood experience is very expensive, and you know some can’t afford it,” said Peek.
“There’s been several floods through the years that we need to get the creek dredged I think and get it cleaned out, to prevent more land being destroyed,” added Peek.
Montana Disaster and Emergency Services Recovery and Mitigation Bureau Chief Jake Ganieany said state and federal funding will need to come in multiple phases as Lincoln County continues to rebuild.
“For example, we are still working with the communities from the 2022 Yellowstone Flood, there are still some big pretty large repairs that we are doing from the damages from that flood, and we would imagine that we will still be working closely with Lincoln County and the City of Libby and Troy three, five, six years from now,” said Ganieany.
Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Boyd White tells MTN News that the people of Lincoln County are strong and resilient and will continue to lean on one another as the community rebuilds.
