Flood, Fremont
- When
- June 24, 1:45 AM MST to June 30, 11:59 PM MST
- Where
- Fremont County, 1.08 mi SE of Riverton to 7.59 mi ESE of Morton
- Cause
- Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
- Property damage
- $415,000
- Crop damage
- $250,000
- Reported by
- River/Stream Gage
- Coordinates
- 43.019, -108.365
Melting snow caused the Wind River at Dubois to reach flood stage early on the morning of Friday, June 24. The flood waters surrounded sandbagged homes, inundating yards and a local campground. Continued snowmelt above the 9,000 foot elevation initiated a second surge of water toward the end of the month and early July.
Downstream the river rose several feet as other tributaries brought additional water to the Wind River. Also, increased water releases from the Bureau of Reclamation's Bull Lake Dam, which was quickly filling, allowed for additional water to reach the river channel. The Wind River gauge at Crowheart reached at least 10.86 feet during the early evening of Thursday, June 30, before failing. The Wind River flowed into its old river channel downstream of the Crowheart gauge. This caused water to surround several homes near the U.S. Highway 26 Wind River bridge crossing between Diversion Dam and Morton. Rising water overtopped and subsequently closed a good portion of a one mile section of the highway between mileposts 104 and 105. Traffic was diverted around this closure for most of the next week.
Through late June most of the flooding impacted farm and pasture land near the river from the Johnstown Bridge to Hidden Valley near Boysen Dam. Gauges on this stretch of river at Kinnear and Riverton continued to climb in early July. Similarly, the Little Wind River at Riverton also climbed above flood stage on June 30 and continued to rise during the first few days of July. High waters on tributaries of the Little Wind coupled with record flows on the Wind River created flooding near the confluence with the Wind River.