Jun 15, 2022
By MATTHEW BROWN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press
RED LODGE, Mont. (AP) — Floodwaters that rushed through Yellowstone National Park and surrounding communities earlier this week moved through Montana’s largest city on Wednesday, flooding farms and ranches and forcing the shutdown of its water treatment plant.
The water in the Yellowstone River hit its highest level in nearly a century as it traveled east to Billings, Montana, home to nearly 110,000 people. It hit 16 feet, a foot higher than the water plant needs to work effectively.
The historic floodwaters raged through the nation’s oldest national park earlier this week and may have forever altered the human footprint on Yellowstone’s terrain and the communities that have grown around it.
The floodwaters tore out bridges and poured into nearby homes. They pushed a popular fishing river off course — possibly permanently — and may force roadways nearly torn away by torrents of…