Thousands of people in Missoula were still without power Friday afternoon after a powerful storm blasted through the area Wednesday night.
NorthWestern Energy at noon Friday said they had more than 160 personnel and 34 line crews working to restore electricity as quickly as possible. The utility warned some outages might not be repaired until early next week.
Northwestern said the storm knocked out power to nearly 40,000 customers in the Missoula area.
Despite 80-mile-per-hour winds toppling hundreds of trees and power poles, Missoula County disaster services coordinator Nick Holloway says only minor injuries have been reported.
“I think that’s people taking care of people,” Holloway said. “We’ve been through a lot of wildfires, we’ve been through flooding, we’ve even been through a big wind event like this before. So, we’ve seen a lot and we know how to respond.”
Holloway says some intersections in the city may still be without power. Those are to be treated like four-way stops. He says residents should only call 9-1-1 if there is a genuine emergency. For non-emergency storm questions, residents can call 406-258-4636.
The Clark Fork River between Milltown and Petty Creek fishing access site remains closed due to risk of electrification from fallen power lines. The Bitterroot River is also closed between Looking Glass fishing access site to the confluence with the Clark Fork.
The city is asking residents in the South Hills, Linda Vista and Lewis and Clark neighborhoods to conserve water for essential use only, as just one of two wells serving the area was online Friday.
The Red Cross continues to staff the Missoula County Election Center, where residents can charge personal devices or take a shower.
Missoula's food bank and homeless shelter in need following storm-related outages
Montana Public Radio | John Hooks
Missoula’s food bank and homeless shelter were forced to toss out thousands of pounds of food during this week’s storm that knocked out power to much of the area.
David Heffner, food program manager with the Poverello Center, estimated the shelter was forced to throw away at least 2,500 pounds of food.
Caitlyn Taix, Director of the Missoula Food Bank, said they were able to save some of their perishables in a refrigerator truck, but still lost a significant amount.
Power returned Friday to both charities. They’re requesting donations of perishable goods like produce, milk, butter, and meat; as well as bottled water to refill shelves.
