FLOOD09447

• County: Statewide
• Community: Malta Montana
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Reconnaissance Report Flood Control for Milk River at Malta Montana
• Date: 12/1/1991
• Prepared For: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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by the Civilian Conservation Corp a in anticipation of the 1952 flood.
The levee has a height varying froll 3 to 6 feet and 18 heavily overgrown
with trees, brush, and grass. Additional fill material was placed on the
levee in 1978 in order to provide protection froll a flood that year. This
was part of a foresight operation. The construction and maintenance of
the levee are not in accordance with Corps of Engineera' specifications,
leaving the atructural integrity queationable. There are aOlle ahort,
private ring levees on the left bank that protect individual property.
No continuoua flood protection exiata for thia area. The Bureau of Rec-
lamation's (BOR) Freano Dam 18 located upstream on the Milk River. It
controls 3,766 square .iles of drainage area, which is one-third of the
Milk River drainage basin at Kalta.

FLOOD HISTORY

There 18 a long hl8tory of major flooda affecting Kalta which have
taken place on the Milk River. Early recorda indicate that major floods
occurred on the Milk River in 1880, 1888, 1899, 1906, 1912, 1923, 1927,
1938, and 1939. The actual extent of damage at Kalta cannot be ascer-
tained froll sOlie of these floods because of the lack of adequate records.
Floods known to have caused substantial damage within the Milk River basin
occurred in June 1906, April 1907, April 1912, April 1917, Karch 1918,
Karch 1939, Karch 1943, April 1952, April 1978, and Septellber 1986.
Available information on the flood events ia summarized below.

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FLOOD OF JUNE 1906
This flood was a result of rains which had started about lIid-May.
During a 3-week period, an average of 5 inches of rain fell on the basin.
On 6 June 1906, an intense storm began in the vicinity of the cODlllunity
of Highwood, Montana. The storm, which 1I0ved northeasterly, centered near
the community of Warrick, Montana, and produced 8.26 inchea of rainfall.
The storm center had 13.31 inches of rainfall, which 18 the greatest
recorded in the Milk River valley.

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