Storm leaves thousands without power in Polson

A sudden spring storm blasted the Mission Valley on May 31, uprooting trees and leaving thousands temporarily without power in Polson, Ronan and along the south shore of Flathead Lake.

Lake County Emergency Manager Steve Stanley said the storm blew in from the south, dropping heavy rain and hail in St. Ignatius before whipping up gale-force winds by the time it reached Ronan around 8 p.m.

According to Mission Valley Power General Manager Jean Matt, downed trees and branches caused widespread electrical outages for about 5,100 customers, with some of the hardest hit areas concentrated around Terrace Lake Road in Ronan and along the south shore of Flathead Lake. Matt said crews worked throughout the night, restoring power to all service areas by 6 a.m. Thursday morning.

In addition to outages, Stanley said the strong winds rekindled a fire that had been burning earlier during the day on Finley Point, while a lightning strike sparked areas of smoke on Skyline Drive in Polson.

The National Bison Range also reported that a rockslide had caused substantial damage to a portion of upper Red Sleep Drive. The road was closed for most of Thursday as crews worked to make repairs, according to a Facebook post from range officials.

While the storm moved rapidly across the valley, pushing a large dust cloud ahead of its path, Stanley said advanced warnings allowed his office to prepare for impact.

“The weather bureau hit this thing spot on,” Stanley said. “We had our fist warning about 1 p.m.”

Nevertheless, Stanley said the Lake County Dispatch Center was flooded with calls between 7-10 p.m., prompting officials to call in additional operators to work the phones.

Matt said Mission Valley Power experienced a similar scenario.

“We really worked hard on social media to spread the message,” he said, encouraging customers to follow the company’s Facebook page for information on future outages.

Although wind gusts up to 43 mph were measured in Ronan, both Stanley and Matt agreed that the event was not entirely unusual.

“It was just a typical Montana storm,” Matt said.

Matt praised his crews for working to restore power through blowing wind and sideways rain. He said the storm serves as a reminder for homeowner to trim trees and branches located close to power lines. Matt said Mission Valley Power attempts to respond to outages as soon as possible, but with over 2,300 miles of service line to monitor, he recommended that households alway maintain a stock of candles, flashlights and other emergency supplies.