A Mighty Wind

By CHRIS PETERSON - Hungry Horse News

A big wind blew in Monday night, taking a big chunk of roof off the Canyon Elementary School gym and another chunk off the old Hungry Horse Ranger Station.

Crews from Swank Construction were busy Tuesday night repairing the school roof, tearing off the crumbled steel, while putting in a replacement patch.

Fortunately, the gym floor didn't have any water damage. Principal Brenda Hoerner said the power went out in Hungry Horse about 5:15 p.m. as the school was having parent-teacher conferences. Everyone went home and the damage happened later that night.

At least half of the 22-year-old roof will have to be replaced.

At the old Hungry Horse Ranger Station, owner Stephan Byrd was busy picking up pieces of steel that blew off the roof of that building.

The Forest Service had just moved out of the building, which Byrd and his partners now own.

He was moving the steel out of the way so it wouldn't blow onto U.S. Highway 2.

The wind also downed trees and knocked out power in the Canyon for several hours.

Wind gusts west of the Divide reached close to 50 mph, but winds were much higher on the east side with gusts up to 80 and 90 mph. Wind stoked a huge blaze near Big Timber, burning 22,000 acres, while burning down three homes, the Associated Press reported.