Flooding along the Bighorn River near Worland and Greybull has damaged buildings and caused several residents to evacuate from their homes.
The flooding was caused by ice jams, which occur when chunks of ice block the flow of the river.
Kelly Ruiz with the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security says this is different than the flooding in 2011, which was caused by snowmelt.
“They react in completely different ways,” Ruiz said. “It’s hard to predict what an ice jam flood will do – where it’s going to get hung up, if it gets hung up, and if it’ll cause flooding.”
Ruiz says water levels in Worland are subsiding, and residents there are allowed to return to their homes. But she says the agency will be monitoring the situation closely, and that residents should continue to check local news outlets for updates and advisories.
The Wyoming National Guard has stacked up sandbags in Greybull and Manderson to help protect those towns from floodwaters.
