Snow knocks out 350 power poles, power for 9,000 Montanans
27 crews called in to restore electricity
Karl Puckett
The big snowstorm that swept across northern Montana’s Hi-Line Monday and Tuesday knocked out 350 NorthWestern Energy power poles and power to 9,000 customers.
NorthWestern hit back with 27 repair and tree removal crews Wednesday.
The utility dispatched 21 four-person repair crews in addition to three contract crews, which fanned out over a 90-mile stretch from Havre to Malta and worked to restore power to 9,000 customers.
The repair crews were joined by four tree-trimming crews and additional NorthWestern personnel such as engineers assessing damage.
MORE:Heavy snow postpones election at Fort Belknap
“This is a pretty significant storm, even by our standards,” said Butch Larcombe, a NorthWestern spokesman.
Power had been restored to 7,750 customers, with 1,250 still without power, as of Wednesday afternoon, Larcombe said.
Now high weekend winds are forecast prompting worry that trees already weakened by wet heavy snow will come crashing down.
Seven of the repair crews were focused on the Harlem and Malta areas.
"The reason for that is that's where we've had the biggest damage to our system," Larcombe said. "We have more than 300 poles in that area that are down from Harlem and Fort Belknap east."
It's possible that some rural customers could remain without electricity for a few days, Larcombe said.
The damage to NorthWestern equipment doesn’t include poles and lines maintained by local cooperatives.
More:Snow won't stop First Friday Art Walk
The one-two punch that caused the damage was heavy wet snow followed by ice that formed after temperatures dropped, Larcombe said. The snow and ice also weighed down trees still carrying leaves, which caused them to crash into power lines.
The wind and added weight from the snow and ice caused the lines to bounce putting pressure on the poles causing them to snap or bend.
"It's slow going, especially when you have to rebuild line," Larcombe said of the repair work.
Crews are working 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. to get power restored, he said.
The storm dumped more than a foot of snow over two days on some areas including 15.5 inches in Havre, population 9,800, and around 30 inches on the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap reservations.
Now wind gusts ranging from 30 mph to 60 mph, from the Rocky Mountain Front east across northcentral Montana, are expected to begin Friday afternoon and continue into the weekend.
“If there’s any trees that were kind of weakened, the strong winds may give them that one last push and there could be a few branches falling down,” said Jason Anglin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls.
Todd Seymanski, city forester for Great Falls, said the city, which received 1.5 inches of snow, “dodged a bullet” but cities on the Hi-Line won’t be so lucky.
“When trees have leaves on them and it snows, it’s never a good deal,” he said.
In Great Falls, the city has been focusing on increased pruning of trees on the boulevards and parks the past few years to improve the health of the urban forest, he said.
The recommended pruning rotation is five to seven years. The pruning rotation had been more like every 30 years in Great Falls, he said.
“So we need to concentrate on doing as much pruning as we can and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Seymanski said.
READ MORE: