The ER may have called it a herniated disc or thoracic spine injury from the crash. The city's insurer will comb those same records for words like "degenerative," "hydroplaned," or "weather-related" and argue the rain caused it, not bad drainage or road maintenance.

Yes, maybe you still can if it was only last year. In Montana, many injury claims are governed by a 3-year deadline, including a lot of negligence cases against public entities. But the question you should be asking right now is: who actually controlled that flooded road, ditch, culvert, or storm drain?

In Billings, that might be the City of Billings Public Works, Yellowstone County, or the Montana Department of Transportation if it was a state route. If you guess wrong, you can burn months and miss the right target.

Here is what to do next, fast:

• Get the crash report and identify the exact road segment.
• Find out who maintained that stretch and the drainage there.
• Send a written claim notice now to the right office: Billings City Clerk, Yellowstone County, or the Montana Department of Administration's Risk Management and Tort Defense Division for state agencies.
• Ask for records on prior flooding complaints, storm drain maintenance, work orders, and incident reports from that date.
• Pull weather data and photos showing this was more than ordinary rain if flash flooding hit Billings.

Government cases are different because Montana public entities can raise defenses private drivers cannot, including arguments about discretionary decisions and storm-response limits. If the road was unsafe because crews ignored a known drainage failure, that is a very different case than "it rained hard."

Also check whether a government vehicle, road crew, barricade, or detour played a role. A flooded-road crash near an evacuation route or storm debris cleanup can shift the case from a simple car wreck into a government-operations claim very quickly.