Tester Visits Missoula's Flooded Areas

MISSOULA, Mont — Senator Jon Tester was in Missoula today to look at the flood damage on Tower Street. He warned that the flooding will get worse, before it gets better.

After a short stop at the courthouse to be briefed on what he could expect, Senator Tester was off to Orchard Homes to investigate the flood damage.

Tester said this amount of water is something he's never seen before.

"Just take a look at the river here," he said "It's rockin' and rollin' like I have never seen it before, and snowpack hasn't even started to melt. We've got, we've got challenges ahead of us."

Those challenges are made worse by high demand for federal help. With the mississippi and missouri rivers flooding other parts of the country, federal funds are tight.

Tester said he's making sure the government is fully aware of the states' need for aid.

"Just making them aware of what's going on in the state of montana from a water standpoint is really critically important so that when we make the request, they know exactly what we're talking about," he said.

For now, Montanans have to rely on the help of neighbors or friendly strangers. One group of men had never even met the people who live in the house they were sandbagging, but they dropped all their weekend plans to help. Tester said this is the kind of attitude that will help the state pull through.

"In times like this, ya know, people need some help gettin' back on their feet and once again, we'll do what we can to help them," he said.