Thousands without power after storm
Gene Gribbin, who lives on Swan Lake, takes a photo of the historic Spring Prairie tree at Kidsports Complex in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. The historic Ponderosa pine was toppled during an early-morning storm that left thousands in the valley without power. The tree, which was significantly damaged during a storm in 1989, is estimated to be 300 years old. The tree and the nearby spring served as a stopping point between Flathead Lake and present-day Eureka on The Fort Steele Road, which followed closely an old Indian trail known as The Tobacco Plains Trail. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Visitors take pictures of the historic Spring Prairie tree at Kidsports Complex in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. The historic Ponderosa pine was toppled during an early-morning storm that left thousands in the valley without power. The tree, which was significantly damaged during a storm in 1989, is estimated to be 300 years old. The tree and the nearby spring served as a stopping point between Flathead Lake and present-day Eureka on The Fort Steele Road, which followed closely an old Indian trail known as The Tobacco Plains Trail. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A couple walks down North Main Street near Lawrence Park where several trees fell across power lines during an early-morning storm that left thousands in the valley without power on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Neighbors assess damage from an early morning storm along Fourth Street West near Elrod Elementary in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Fred DeLay, left, of Kalispell, assesses damage from an early morning storm along Fourth Street West near Elrod Elementary in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Natasha George and Danae Maxwell take photos of storm damage to a neighboring property along Fourth Street West near Elrod Elementary in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A person takes a picture of a large tree that was uprooted along Fourth Street West in Kalispell during an early morning storm that left thousands in the valley without power on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A television journalist records video of storm damage along Fourth Street West near Elrod Elementary in Kalispell on Sunday, May 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A strong thunderstorm with damaging winds gusting up to 69 mph swept through the Flathead Valley Sunday morning, causing widespread power outages to more than half of Flathead Electric Cooperative customers at one point.
That wind speed is comparable to the lowest end of tornado wind speeds, which is between 65 and 85 mph, according National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Kitsmiller. Kitsmiller said at 8:22 a.m., wind speeds were observed at between 55 to 69 mph at Glacier Park International Airport.
At the peak of the power outages, roughly 37,000 — more than half of the cooperative’s customers — were without power according to Flathead Electric Cooperative Public Relations Officer Wendy Ostrom-Price. The thunderstorm impacted all 5,000 miles of line on the system according to Ostrom-Price.
“At one point, the Flathead substation was down and all of Kalispell was out,” she said. “There are trees down all over on power lines, on houses and on cars. This is one of the worst storms our area has seen in years.”
Electric crews were dispatched around 9 a.m. The challenge with this storm in regard to power outages was the breadth of area the storm covered, traveling “as far as Libby to the west of our territory, and to Big Mountain to the north, east to Essex and south to Swan Lake,” Ostrom-Price said.
Five crews from other parts of the state have been called in to assist Flathead Electric. Power may take days to restore in certain areas.
“All crews are responding, but that’s a lot of ground to cover,” she noted.
By 6:30 p.m., approximately 19,000 Flathead Electric customers were still without power.
“We are working the biggest outages we have right now to restore power to the most members possible as quickly as possible. If your area is not listed, it’s possible that you will be without power at least through the night, if not longer. We thank you for your continued patience and understanding as our crews work through the destruction caused by this storm,” an update stated at www.flatheadelectric.com, where people may also access a power outage map.
People are reminded never to touch, drive over, or move downed power lines, or attempt to remove trees from power lines.
Kitsmiller said this particular weather encompassed a long, and consistent, line of thunderstorms that came from the southwest and traveled to the northeast. He said the whole storm line was moving about 50 mph.
“The strong winds started at 8:20 a.m. and by 8:30 they were already decreasing. It was a pretty brief, but very abrupt and strong storm,” Kitsmiller said.
He said a low pressure center and a cold front rapidly lifted a “really warm and wet air mass” that the area has been in, which set the stage for the thunderstorm. He said it was harder to forecast and see the subtleties on the radar on Sunday, which is why he said it’s important to have weather spotters on site to send reports through Twitter or Facebook.
“It’s a little more rare to get this type of a setup,” Kitsmiller said. “In 2016, on June 6, we had we had somewhat similar conditions it came through a different time of day, the afternoon, and ended up producing a lot of hail and wind.”
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.
