Still Repairs to Finish, But Power Nearly Restored in Missoula

There is still some major damage for crews to address, but utility companies are reporting they've nearly restored all of the power lost in last week's severe thunderstorm in Missoula.

This means some customers are seeing their first chance to charge their phones at home and enjoy the convenience of a refrigerator and freezer.

While power may be back on, power crews and their contractors are still going to be busy for days repairing the extensive damage in some of the hardest-hit areas.

READ MORE: Missoula Thunderstorm Caused About $2 Million in Damage

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Missoula Electric Cooperative

Missoula Electric Coop was reporting just over 200 of its customers were still without service Monday evening. Most of those outages were concentrated in the hard-hit area along Mullan Road between Missoula and Frenchtown, with 195 customers still offline near the old Smurfit Stone Mill site.

18 customers still were waiting for power east of Bonner in the Blackfoot Canyon.

Northwestern Energy

After hitting a high of 40,000 customers during the initial storm strike, Northwestern crews had service restored to 96% by Monday morning. And that was reduced to just 100 customers by late afternoon.

Spokeswoman Jo Dee Black says crews will continue to repair the "severe" storm damage that happened Wednesday night.

SEE THE VIDEO: How Missoula Teens Suvived Powerline Collapse

Repairs continue for the worst damage

In addition to Mullan Road, utility contractors have their hands full with the entire span of lines that were damaged along Lower Miller Creek Road, extending from the top of the hill in Linda Vista north to the Bitterroot River. That's still forcing some Miller Creek residents to detour around the damage.

Black says, as the repairs continue, people are being advised to stay at least 30 feet away from power lines, and anything that may be near or touching a downed or damaged line. She also cautions people should be careful not to encounter lines that may be buried under fallen trees or other debris.