HARDIN, Mont. - Flooding closed an 85-mile stretch of Interstate 90 between Hardin and Sheridan, Wyo., on Saturday, after a dike broke near Lodge Grass, officials said.

The highway was closed at about 1 p.m. at the request of Big Horn County officials, the Montana Highway Patrol said.

Dispatchers said no detours were in place, although they were recommending Interstate 94 to motorists as an alternate route. Big Horn County sheriff's officials said they "weren't ready" to release any information about the closure, and refused further comment.

Jack Old Horn, incident information officer for the Crow Tribe, and other authorities said they didn't know when the highway would reopen.

"Mother Nature has to do her thing," Old Horn said. "This is a safety precaution to keep interstate traffic safe."

Albert Richmond, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, said he had been told the flooding was caused by a dike breach in the Lodge Grass area, but had no further information.

Water from the Little Bighorn River flooded the highway at the U.S. 212 interchange north of Garryowen, he said.

"Apparently it's a low spot," Richmond said.

Flooding was expected to continue in low-lying areas between Garryowen and Hardin through Sunday.

Heavy rain flooded the Little Bighorn and area creeks into Wyola, Pryor and Lodge Grass on Friday. The water was receding in those areas, but was en route to Crow Agency, officials said.

Another surge was expected Sunday as temperatures get high enough to eat into the existing snowpack and melt new snow that fell in the high country late this week, flood incident commander Thomas Ten Bears said.

Shelters for area residents who left their homes were set up by the American Red Cross in Crow Agency and Pryor, while tribal and railroad officials dug a trench under the tracks at Lodge Grass and pumped water out into a culvert. Train traffic was stopped for most of the day Friday.

"I'm just waiting it out," Patrick Bird In Ground said Friday as he sat on a porch in Lodge Grass, his feet propped on yellow sandbags and muddy water lapping at the deck.

In Rosebud County, homeowners along the Tongue River from Ashland to Birney were warned to prepare for the possibility of flooding.

Water levels hovered around the flood stage in Ashland on Friday and were expected to peak sometime this weekend, causing flooding through low-lying areas, said Rosebud County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Carole Raymond.

"We've got an evacuation alert in place," Raymond said. That alert may become an evacuation order should the flooding become dangerous.

The threat of flooding in Custer County had already passed, officials said.