Gianforte, Daines survey flood damage in Gardiner, hear from community
GARDINER, Mont. — Friday afternoon, Gov. Greg Gianforte joined community members in Gardiner to discuss impacts from this week’s flooding.
“Clearly you’ve been through hell and I’m here to listen,” Gianforte said, addressing business-owners Friday.
Devastating flooding wiped out infrastructure and temporarily closed Yellowstone National Park Monday. Now, many Gardiner residents worry the lasting impacts will also destroy their businesses.
“This stack of reservations represents the cancellations we have received at our family-owned motel since Monday,” said Chelsea DeWeese, manager of the Yellowstone River Motel in Gardiner.
Gianforte returned to the state Thursday night after nearly a week-long personal trip in Italy.
Friday, he and Sen. Steve Daines surveyed flood damage and received an incident command briefing from local officials.
Work is already underway to repair roads and bridges and reopen the park, something this gateway community needs to survive.
“Yellowstone is the lifeline for Gardiner,” Gianforte said. “If we don’t get that road back open, these businesses will not survive.”
While damage to the northern side of the park is severe, officials say the southern loop will likely reopen next week. That includes the west, south and east park entrances.
“We will come up with the best solution and will work with the administration and members of Congress to make sure we’ve got the right financial support to execute,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly.
Initial damage assessments in the park are still ongoing. Officials don’t yet have an estimate on costs for repairs or when the park will fully reopen.
“Gardiner’s gone through a lot,” Sholly said. “I’m coming up on four years in this job, and we spent a lot of time working together through very tough issues. I'm highly confident we’re going to do the same here.”
For the state, damage is estimated at $29 million.
Thursday, Montana received a major disaster declaration from President Joe Biden, bringing in federal aid to supplement state and local funding for repairing infrastructure.
However, Gardiner business owners are still concerned about how they’ll get by in the meantime.
“So my question to you is this: What grant funding is available to us in this situation?” DeWeese asked Gianforte. “We’re not talking loans. We do not need to accrue more debt. We need to make up the money we have invested and lost.”
