High water levels: ‘Don’t let kids be playing in the water’

With last year’s harsh winter and this year’s rain, we’re seeing rivers filled with runoff water.

That’s making the water so high and dangerous, that we’re being told to stay out.

“We want people to stay out of the water, don’t let kids be playing in the water,” said Fremont County Emergency Management Coordinator Keith Richey.

Flooding that affects us the most, comes from snow melting in the mountains, which then fills up the rivers with runoff water.

This happens during the warmer months as the temperatures start to increase quickly.

However, despite the cooler temperatures this week, we should still be cautious around the water.

“Even though we may not be in a particular flood stage, the rivers are running really high, fast and cold. We want people to be aware,” Richey said.

Rain is also a huge concern.

“Here in Freemont County, we’re about a twenty-four hour period that if we get a warm rainstorm in the mountains, about twenty-four hours later, we start seeing the rise with that,” Richey said.

Lucky for us, this week’s rain is actually supposed to benefit our water levels.

“Temperatures are gonna be low, so that will really slow down the snow melt, to more of, more of a normal rate,” Richey said.

Major flooding in our area typically occurs during May and June.

If your house or property is near a river, the time to prepare is now.

“They should look at getting flood insurance, and they need to do that now because typically there is a thirty-day wait for that policy to kick into effect,” Richey said.