Thousands without power due to blustery winds

By HILARY MATHESON

Daily Inter Lake

Flathead Electric Cooperative had “all hands on deck” to restore power when a blustery winter storm blew through the region Friday evening through Saturday.

“The wind was fast and furious,” said Flathead Electric Cooperative Public Relations Officer Wendy Ostrom-Price, as crews struggled to keep pace with the amount of fallen trees.

Outside reinforcements were called in with roughly 46 crew members on the ground by Saturday afternoon with power outages impacting the areas of Whitefish, Montana 206, Lake Blaine, Echo Lake, East Lake Shore and Montana 83.

By 7:20 p.m. Saturday, roughly 2,154 Flathead Electric customers were still without power, but winds had subsided, allowing crews to good progress repairing equipment according to an update posted online at www.flatheadelectric.com.

Work to restore power is expected to continue through today, particularly for challenging areas such as Echo Lake, where damage is “widely scattered,” and areas that sustained significant damage such as the area south of Montana 209, down to Montana 83 and through Swan Lake.

Lake Blaine customers can anticipate power to be restored midday, with at least a mile of wire needing replacement.

“The tree damage from this storm appears to be even worse than the wind storm that passed through on Thanksgiving, and it’s not uncommon for us to encounter residual damage or issues we aren’t aware of,” the update stated.

Flathead Electric reminds people to never attempt to remove a tree from a power line, which may still be energized.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431.