The Big Blow: Friday's storm downed trees, knocked out power

A wind speed of 58 mph was clocked Friday evening in Ronan as a fierce storm swept through Lake County. Speeds of 47 mph riled Flathead Lake at Big Arm, while a wind speed of 50.8 mph was recorded at a weather station east of St. Ignatius.

Trees blew down on houses, vehicles and power lines from Arlee to Lake Mary Ronan. In Ronan, four houses were destroyed and eight people sought assistance from the Red Cross.

The 911 Center was “hammered by calls from the storm,” reports Mark Clary, head of Lake County Emergency Management. “We were averaging between 8 to 10 calls an hour for service that day, until 5 p.m. when we added 71 calls for service, and then another 24 in the next hour,” he said. And that total doesn’t include the other calls that were coming in unrelated to the storm.

The center in the Lake County Courthouse has five dispatch stations, and the backup center, established in 2022 at the Office of Emergency Management across the river, has two. All of them were manned during the storm.

“This was the first time that has happened since our upgrade (in 2022) and having a true backup 911 center,” Clary said.

He noted that all area fire departments were out on calls in their districts during the storm. Meanwhile, Mission Valley Power was having phone issues, making it impossible for the dispatch center to call on their business lines.

In a Facebook post, the utility noted that customers were experiencing system-wide outages Friday evening and that its emergency dispatch number was down. “Please be aware we have all available crews out and are working hard to restore power as soon as possible.”

“My staff ended up working with them via cell phones to notify them of issues such as trees in lines or down on houses,” Clary said.

“It started for us around 5 p.m.,” said Ronan Mayor and Fire Chief Chris Adler. The fire department responded to 19 weather-related calls, including downed power lines and blocked roadways from fallen trees. A car accident and a pickup truck that caught on fire just before midnight brought the total to 21 calls in seven hours.

Adler said 23 personnel in nine fire trucks spent the evening clearing trees from roadways and preventing traffic from driving across downed power lines. Four houses were destroyed, and eight people sought assistance from the Red Cross.

“Lake County Dispatch did an amazing job in getting us going on all of the calls and many good local people came out after the storm passed to help their neighbors,” Adler said. Although Ronan’s department was able to get the job done, Adler noted that Charlo and Mission fire departments “were ready to assist if mutual aid was requested, so thank you to them.”

According to posts on Mission Valley Safety Awareness, trees fell on top of three campers and three trailers at Mission Meadows Resort north of Ronan; a large pine tree toppled over at the Ronan cemetery; and a roof was blown off a shed on Lemery Road near St. Ignatius. Downed power lines were also reported in Pablo and on Eagle Pass Trail south of Ronan.

Mission Fire Chief Paul Adams said his department responded to four calls involving trees that fell on houses or across power lines on Blind Barnaby St., East Post Creek, Hi-Hi-Tah and Allion Road, and on Mission Dam Road. Trees were also leaning on power lines on Hwy. 93 along Post Creek Hill. "We had no injuries in any incident," he added.

Polson Fire Chief Clint Coddle, whose crew was clearing the remains from a mountain ash tree that briefly closed 17th Ave. and briefly knocked out power to a house, said his crew fielded about five calls Friday.

Residents on Finley Point said they were without power for 12 hours; others reported outages ranging from four to seven hours.

Although the National Weather Service had predicted severe thunder storms Friday afternoon, residents seemed surprised by the storm’s sudden arrival and ferocity. A couple who reside at the end of Finley Point said it went from a few dark clouds on the horizon to a full-blown storm in what felt like a matter of minutes.

At Walstad Fishing Access on the west shore of Flathead Lake, several boaters were lined up near the dock, anxious to pull their boats out before the black cloud on the western horizon came any closer.

“I am very proud of my staff and the effort (Dispatch) put forth to cover the county,” Clary said. “All of my people were involved, or on standby to assist. Our area first responders and Mission Valley Power did an outstanding job in response to this storm.”

    Mission Valley Power crews were busy last Friday when a major storm blew down trees and caused power outages from one end of Lake County to the other. In this instance, they worked with Polson Fire to remove a mountain-ash tree that knocked down a powerline and briefly closed 17th Avenue. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)