Floodplain Information &
Permitting
Yes, we do have floods in Yellowstone County, Montana.
Wherever there's a river, you can be sure there will be some flooding.
Jim Kraft is the Floodplain Administrator for Yellowstone County.
The floodplain regulations shall apply to all lands within the
jurisdiction of the County of Yellowstone, State of Montana, shown
on maps and other documents as being located within a 100-year
floodplain as described below:
A. FEMA Flood Insurance Study for the City of Billings and Yellowstone
County, Montana ( including the Clarks Fork River Study) with
accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) and the Floodway
maps dated March 21, 2000, inclusive of previous Flood Insurance
Studies and maps dated September 8, 1999, May 2, 1991 and November
18, 1981.
B. MTDNRC Final Order dated August 10, 2004 adopting the 100 year
floodplain, floodway boundaries and the corresponding Base Flood
Elevations for Unnamed Creek and for Dry Creek with Flood Insurance
Studies and maps provided by the contract engineer.
C. MTDNRC Final Order dated August 10, 2004 adopting the 100 year
floodplain, floodway boundaries and the corresponding Base Flood
Elevations for Cove Creek with Flood Insurance Studies and maps
provided by the contract engineer.
D. MTDNRC Final Order dated August 10, 2004 adopting the 100 year
floodplain, floodway boundaries and the corresponding Base Flood
Elevations for Five Mile Creek with Flood Insurance Studies and
maps provided by the contract engineer.
E. "Best Available Data" as shown on the Flood Photographs
dated June 14, 1997 for those areas of the Yellowstone River not
included in "A" above. See Chapter 6.
F. "Best Available Data" as shown on the "Map of
Flood-Prone Areas by the US Department of Interior, USGS, for
those areas not included above in Section 3.2, A, B, C, D &
E. See Chapter 6.
The floodplain maps referenced above shall be on file in the Office
of the Yellowstone County Floodplain Administrator. Studies in
progress include a restudy of the entire Yellowstone River and
the West End of Billings to include Cove Creek (south of Rimrock
Road) Little Cove Creek and Hogan's Slough. Anticipated completion
date is 2007.
The boundaries of the 100-year floodway shall be determined by
scaling distances on the Official Floodplain Maps and using the
floodway data table contained in the flood insurance study report.
The maps may be used as a guide for determining the 100-year floodplain
boundary, but the exact location of the floodplain boundary shall
be determined where the base flood elevation intersects the natural
ground. For unnumbered A Zones and AO Zone floodplains, where
there is a conflict between a mapped floodplain boundary and actual
field conditions, the Floodplain Administrator may interpret the
location of the 100-year floodplain boundary based on field conditions
or available historical flood information.
