Montana's governor has dispatched an additional 36 National Guard soldiers to combat rising water levels, the Associated Press reported.

Steady rain has inundated the state over the last few days, compounded by a larger than usual volume of melting snowpack. Gov. Brian Schweitzer sent National Guard troops to the town of Roundup a day after he had ordered 50 troops into Crow Reservation, and a spokesperson for Montana's Emergency Coordination Center warned that flooding will occur statewide, corner to corner.

The flooding has swollen the Missouri river, and states downstream of Montana are bracing for the need to open dams and reservoirs. 1,500 National Guard members bolstered North Dakota's defenses while the Army Corps of Engineers scrambles to build earthen levees. Nebraska and Iowa are closely watching what some officials are calling the heaviest flooding in decades.