Lightning, hail, and torrential rain swept through Great Falls Thursday night, as a powerful thunderstorm brought flash flooding and rapid response from emergency crews.
Among the hardest-hit areas was Third Street NW, where several inches of standing water quickly built up—right next to the Montana State Fair.
Chris Atkins, the General Manager for the Thomas Carnival says, “Last night was an extreme event. It just kind of blew up all of a sudden, right over the top of us.”
As the skies lit up with lightning, the team behind Thomas Carnival moved fast.
The carnival tracks lightning using mobile apps, and when strikes get too close, there’s a clear protocol: shut down the tallest rides first.
Atkins explains, “All of our management team has the ability to shut down the carnival. As soon as lightning got close and was a threat, we shut the high rides down. We’re going to make sure that our customers, our operators, and our employees are not subject to adverse conditions.”
Operations began winding down around 8:30 p.m., and with rain still coming down by 10:00 p.m, carnival organizers officially closed for the night.
At the same time, crews at the livestock barns scrambled to move animals away from floodwater pooling near stalls. Fair staff and volunteers acted quickly to ensure the animals remained safe and dry.
Atkins says, “We didn’t have any issues, I thought it was all handled very well by ourselves and the fair.”
By morning, skies had cleared and crews were already hard at work—drying equipment, checking rides, and getting ready to welcome back fairgoers.
