Thousands of Customers Still Need Power After Montana Storm

If you're still in the dark today, you're not alone. Northwestern Energy and other local utilities are waging a massive battle to repair millions of dollars in damage following Wednesday's big storm.

Judging from the damage we've seen, some of those repairs may still take days.

Northwestern Energy estimates as many as 20 thousand of its customers remained without power as darkness fell last night, but that's after an initial 20-thousand customers had their lights come back in the initial hours after the hurricane-force winds slammed into West Central Montana.

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Power, and gas, problems

Northwestern Spokeswoman Jo Dee Black tells me there have been many calls of gas leaks, as lines were unearthed by falling trees.

"And we have power lines that were down and also there were trees that uprooted and damaged some natural gas lines, natural gas distribution lines, and some natural gas meters."

That means extra help is needed

"In addition to our Missoula-based crews, we have crews from other divisions across the state as well as contacted crews helping with this restoration effort."

Other utilities like Missoula Electric Coop, have shaved their outages down to less than 6-thousand customers. But in places, like Lower Miller Creek, many power poles are down or snapped off like matchsticks. That means crews have to prioritize the main lines first.

"Making repairs to lines that serve. Large amounts of customers to get those customers back in service and then they'll work their way through the large transmission lines are are repaired and back in service. Then the focus is on that distribution lines."

What You Need to Know After Severe Storm in Missoula

Warnings extend to local rivers

Thursday, Montana FWP closed portions of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork Rivers because of downed power lines in the water.

The Clark Fork River is closed from Milltown State Park, just east of Missoula, to Petty Creek FAS, 20 miles west of Missoula.

The Bitterroot River is closed from Chief Looking Glass FAS near Florence to the confluence with the Clark Fork River near Missoula.

Help is appreciated

Black says the utility has a big thanks to other agencies for helping in a support role with things like traffic control…

"Their work is making it possible for our crews to focus on the. Repair work that needs to be done to get customers who are still affected by an outage back in service."