Strong winds wreck havoc in Sanders, Mineral Counties

PLAINS - Strong winds and snow enveloped the Plains region Wednesday afternoon, causing downed trees and power lines.

One such incident occurred six miles out of town up on a mountain roadway where snowfall was fiercest. 

A large fir tree was felled by wind, causing it to take out a neighboring power line across from a residence at 345 High Country Road. 

"The pressure from the tree snapped the line and the pole clean," Plains-Paradise Rural firefighter Marlin Cooper said. "Northwestern Energy's going to have to dig a new hole." 

Cooper and fellow firefighter Greg Davis were dispatched to the scene to help direct traffic and to keep people away from the lines strewn across the road. 

"I don't think they're hot right now, but we're keeping away just in case," Davis said. 

No injuries were reported. The National Weather Service advised strong winds advisory to Sanders County for the rest of the afternoon. 

SUPERIOR - Heavy winds blew through the Diamond Road/ Country Lane area on Wednesday, creating what Superior Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Woodland called “an interesting afternoon”. 

As a result of the winds, Chief Woodland said that “quite a few” trees were taken out, several of them landing on power lines. 

“It sure looks like they all went all at once,” Chief Woodland said. “We ended up with trees across Diamond Road at a couple different locations.” 

One tree broke at the top and hit a home, damaging it. Chief Woodland said that there was one individual reported in the house who was uninjured. In another location an abandoned singlewide trailer on Diamond Rd was flipped on its side due to the heavy winds. 

No injuries were reported from any of the fallen trees in the area but the fact that many of them fell on power lines and on roads created other issues for the volunteer firefighters. 

“We had some traffic control issues because of where the trees were down,” Chief Woodland said. “We got the road somewhat opened up, but a lot of it we still had trees in the road that we couldn’t get too until the power was shut off.”

In order to allow motorists to use the roads, the volunteer firefighters sent traffic one way at a time around the obstructions while waiting for the power company to arrive from Missoula. 

“It actually took Northwestern electric quite a while to get crews out here to shut the power down,” Chief Woodland said. “Apparently nobody was here and I’m not sure the folks that ended up coming up from Missoula were particularly familiar with the local set up. It was a while going from one end to the other and opening fuses and things before they were comfortable with telling us the whole system was shut down.”

Once Northwestern Electric confirmed that the system was shut down, a forest service sent a saw crew to take care of clearing the roads to the point they were usable. However according to Chief Woodland, removal of the trees that were hung up over wires in the Country Lane area was left to Northwestern Electric. 

“I am sure they were out there most of the night at the very least,” Chief Woodland said.