Electric Co-op Today

High winds roaring across northwestern Montana knocked out power to hundreds of co-op consumer-members and affected at least one ski resort, but line crews moved quickly to restore power in time for the New Year’s holiday weekend.

Near Billings, Mont., Kenny Baumann looks at his children's swing set, which a violent wind gust destroyed. (Photo By: Associated Press/The Billings Gazette, James Woodcock)

“Providing electricity is a 24/7 responsibility, so when outages occur, our crews are quick to respond,” said Wendy Ostrom-Price, public relations officer for Flathead Electric Cooperative.

The Kalispell-based co-op quickly dispatched crews to handle scattered outages caused by sustained winds exceeding 40 mph and gusts as high as 119 mph, Dec. 29. Damage to co-op lines temporarily suspended operations in the Blacktail Mountain Ski Area.

Avalanche warnings were posted for portions of two national forests served by co-op lines, as well as nearby Glacier National Park. Up to five inches of snow fell at higher elevations, and freezing rain was reported in some valleys.

As many as 600 of Flathead Electric’s consumer-members were temporarily without power as a result of wind-related outages, but most had service restored within a few hours.

“Linemen don’t always work in ideal conditions, but we’ve got some pretty rugged folks on our staff,” Ostrom-Price said. “Foul weather is the nature of the beast. When you get called out you do what you have to do.”

Tags: Lineworkers, Power Outages, Recovery