LAUREL — Robert and Sharon Weldin purchased their property close to the confluence of the Clarks Fork and Yellowstone rivers in 2021 partly due to the river views, with water simply 200 yards away.
Or a minimum of that’s the place it’s alleged to be.
A few days in the past, the channel got here proper by means of their property and brought on damage they by no means might have anticipated.
“Everyone round right here is shocked,” Robert, an armed forces veteran, mentioned. “One farmer has been right here because the mid ’60s, and he’s by no means seen something like this earlier than.”
Robert noticed the indicators. He and his household began bracing with sand luggage after they noticed the flooding in Crimson Lodge Monday, however it wasn’t almost sufficient.
“We had 20-foot lengthy, 6-foot tall panels that had been simply gone,” he mentioned. “You couldn’t imagine how briskly and the way excessive the water was.”
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His largest concern was his animals: 11 goats, 4 horses, three canine and the strongest of all of them, a mule.
“Solely two issues survive a flood – cockroaches and a mule,” he joked.
His nephews helped show him fallacious, main all of them to security by means of dashing waters.
“We tried to remain on the highway, bear in mind the place the highway was,” one among them mentioned. “We needed to bribe the mule with grain.”
However whereas they had been doing that, a few of Robert’s chickens didn’t make it. You may inform how heartbroken it made him.
“I couldn’t save every thing. I simply had again surgical procedure, spinal surgical procedure. My spouse and I can’t do every thing,” he mentioned earlier than strolling away choked up.
CASEY CONLON / MTN Information
The Weldins’ home additionally took on a number of ft of water – a neighbor was serving to Sharon salvage what they might Thursday morning as Billings carpet-cleaning vans pumped water out of the primary flooring. However Robert is aware of all issues thought of, it might have been worse.
“I’m fortunate,” he mentioned. “There’s quite a bit worse individuals off that misplaced every thing, so I’m blessed.”
Onerous to think about blessed wanting like this, however this week has modified plenty of views.
