Update: 4 p.m., Nov. 19
Crews are still trying to restore power to homes across the Flathead Valley that are without electricity.
Flathead Electric Cooperative says an estimated 1,400 members are still without power after Tuesday’s major windstorm. Earlier estimates were that only 700 members were affected, but more outages have been discovered, according to the cooperative.
Following a major windstorm that ripped through the valley earlier this week and knocked out power to over 5,100 homes and businesses, Flathead Electric Cooperative crews have scrambled to restore electricity to a wide range of areas.
Wendy Ostrom Price, spokesperson for the cooperative, said crews have “made very good progress” in the last 24 hours, but that more still needs to be done. The goal is to have power restored to the remaining customers by the end of Thursday, she said.
Downed trees could be seen throughout the valley after Tuesday’s windstorm, which gusted up to 52 miles per hour in Kalispell and more than 50 miles an hour around Columbia Falls and Whitefish, according to the National Weather Service. The summit of Whitefish Mountain Resort had gusts up to 59 mph. Wind gusts around Flathead Lake and up the North Fork hit 60 and nearly 70 miles per hour.
Crews have been busy clearing trees and replacing power poles that were taken down, but the widespread outages have stretched the cooperative resources thin, Ostrom Price said.
“We’ve had outages in the past where more members were impacted, but this was more spread out throughout our entire service area,” she said.
The Libby, West Glacier and Bigfork areas are still experiencing the most issues, Ostrom Price said.
On Wednesday, Flathead Electric received 1,621 calls, more than twice as many the previous high for a single day, she said.