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Power Restored to 5,700 Residences, Businesses Along North Shore

Flathead Electric crews trying to determine what caused the large outage

By Dillon Tabish

Electricity was restored to over 5,700 residences and businesses in Bigfork and other north shore communities that lost power for nearly an hour and a half on Monday afternoon.

Wendy Ostrom Price, public relations officer with Flathead Electric Cooperative, said crews were able to fix a disruption in the transmission line between Lion Mountain and Bigfork that caused outages across the north shore.

She said the cause is unknown and that crews are continuing to analyze the incident.

It’s unclear if the outage was related to a significant storm with heavy lightning and rain that is sweeping up Flathead Lake and is expected to hit the valley Monday afternoon. The National Weather Service reported winds up to 30 mph in St. Ignatius around 4 p.m., and a storm advisory was issued earlier.

An estimated 5,700 residents between the Swan Valley and Somers were affected by the outage.