Wednesday’s storm brought more than rain, wind and lightning to a large region of north-central Montana. Towns from Inverness east to Harlem and south to Big Sandy reported power outages.
The longest duration appears to be from Havre south, with the power out for some three hours here and long outages in Box Elder and Big Sandy, and on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.
The spokesman for Rocky Boy could not be reached for comment by deadline this morning.
Other areas had short outages, with Harlem experiencing just a flicker Wednesday night and the same at Chester during the day.
In Chinook, the power was out just 15 or 20 minutes.
“We did (have a power outage) briefly, but not like Havre, ” city clerk Lorraine Mulonet said.
Cherie Stiles of Big Sandy said the outage there lasted several hours.
“Our emergency warning siren went off about six times with a weak sound, ” she said, adding she assumes it was due to the power outage and the weather.
“I know there were a few trees down and a lot of water running, ” she said.
Dalton Dahlke of Inverness said the power was out there and in Joplin, although it came back on in Inverness at about 9:30 p. m.
He said people whose food had been cooked continued to eat at the Inverness Supper Club. The club has emergency lights, but can’t cook once the power is gone.
“(The lights) give you a chance to see to put the food in your mouth and get to the door, but not much more, ” he said.
The restaurant and bar was shutting down as darkness fell just when the power came back on, he added.
Jean Belcourt, owner of Jitterbugs bar and convenience store in Box Elder, said that town experienced power outages Tuesday and Wednesday, probably because of wind Tuesday and from the storm Wednesday.
“I know we got, just in a matter of minutes, rain that you wouldn’t believe, ” she said.
Belcourt said she hadn’t heard, by this morning, of any major problems or incidents related to the storm or power outage.
“In here, we had a pretty good little crowd, but we had to close up around nine, ” she said, adding that the business can’t really operate in the dark without electricity.
