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Havoc on the Hi-Line

John Kelleher

Alex Ross

John Paul Schmidt

Havre Daily News

Winds up to 72 mph struck Havre Saturday night prompting the first tornado warning in years.

Hail of up to two inches in diameter broke windows at Eagles Manor, Havre Historic Post Office, the Masonic Temple and other locations in the city. Trees were uprooted around the city, including a massive tree at Eagles Manor and one on 7th Avenue. Limbs were down on many streets Sunday morning.

The fireworks set for a Saturday night display were fired Sunday night instead, after the Havre Jaycees assessed damage from the storm and decided the show would go on.

The heavy winds knocked out power about 10 p.m. from Chester east to Harlem and at least as far south as Big Sandy and Rocky Boy.

BNSF Railway cards were blown off the tracks that run parallel to Highway 87 five miles south of Havre near Fort Assinniboine, the National Weather Service reported. The cars were parked on the tracks. More than 10 cars had blown off the rails to lie on their sides, most of them badly damaged.

Electricity returned to Zurich and Harlem in Blaine County early Sunday, but lights didn't come in Havre until almost 9:30 a.m.

Three tornadoes touched down in remote parts of the Hi-Line, Weather Service said. There were many more reports of tornadoes in the area, including one near Fresno, but they were not verified as tornadoes by Weather Service.

The website http://www.tornadohq.com said a tornado touched ground about eight miles south of Saddle Butte or 11 miles south of Havre. The site pulls information from National Weather Service.

Weather Service issued severe thunderstorms warning for various areas throughout Saturday night, but just before midnight, it issued a tornado warning for Havre and southeastern Hill County, advising people to get inside their homes and stay in the lowest level of the building. Moments later, a similar warning was issued for Rocky Boy.

The warning elapsed at 12:30 a.m. Sunday, and the rain dissipated.

The storm

Melvin Sherman said he was in his apartment at Eagles Manor Saturday night when he heard what sounded like boulders come crashing down on the building.

He soon found out it wasn't boulders, but hail from a storm that blew through Havre with winds of 72 mph.

Sherman said he was lucky. He lives on the south side of the building, but the north wing was pelted with all kinds of hail, and the hail broke about 15 windows.

"They were about this size," he said, holding his finger and thumb about a quarter's size apart.

The broken windows could be seen at the Manor Sunday morning. Some of the holes in the broken windows remained open, others were covered with cardboard.

"I never saw anything like it," Sherman said.

After things began to calm down, Sherman said he decided to go to bed. But just as he did, Manor staffers pounded on his door saying there was a tornado warning. Residents were taken to the recreation room on the bottom floor until the danger passed.

The storm created damage throughout Havre, but much of it seemed to be concentrated in the historic district.

Dr. Marc Whitacre, co-owner of the Havre Historic Post Office, said windows were blown out in the post office by the sudden storm. More damage was done across the street at the Masonic Temple, he said.

At Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, the storm may have doused a fire that would have caused problems.

Rocky Boy resident Russell Standing Rock said Haystack Butte was on fire, apparently caused by lightning striking the parched ground, bvut the rain and hail put out the fire.

"It was an awful storm," he said. "There was hail and a lot of lightning," he said.

Facts about the storm

The storms started in the Rocky Mountain Front early Saturday evening and moved into western Hill County before moving east to Havre around 10 p.m., said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Great Falls.

He said damage was reported all along the Highway 2 corridor from Chester east to Malta. Damage seemed to be most serious in Chester and Harlem, he said,

North of Havre, a barn was destroyed on Wild Horse Road, he said.

Wind gusts ranged from 60 to 80 mph, he said. The maximum wind reported speed at the Havre City-County Airport was 72 mph.

Hail was one to two inches in diameter, he said.

A National Weather Service survey team has been dispatched to assess damage in the Chester and Harlem areas to see if the damage incurred was caused by a tornado or just heavy winds, he said. Survey findings may be ready today, he said.

Three tornado sightings in remote areas were verified by Weather Service, and others were reported by residents but not verified, he said.

Tornado reports are based from two types of sources, he said; reports from the public and radar indications. Meteorologists at Weather Service received some of both Saturday night.

Storm cells Saturday night and Sunday morning were "very sporadic" and "isolated," in contrast to pictures of highly concentrated damage often seen from the Midwest, Brusda said.

History of Hi-Line tornadoes

National Weather Service records on tornados go back to 1950. There have been no tornadoes in Havre during that time, Brusda said.

The last documented report of tornado to hit Hill County touched down July 16, 1995, 41 miles north of Havre.

Data shows that five tornados have hit Blaine County since 1950, most recently two last year. One tornado hit June 13 ands another July 31. Both of last year's tornadoes were low-level tornadoes.

The aftermath

Downtown Havre was quiet Sunday morning with few cars on the streets.

Stores and restaurants were all closed because there was no electricity.

At Walmart, store personnel said they could not open without power and were counting on staying closed until the afternoon, when they said NorthWestern Energy told them power would be back on.

But at 9:30 a.m., power came back on.

People rushed out to have breakfast at restaurants, only to find that the restaurant's staffers hadn't arrived yet and the grills weren't heated up.

But by noon, most stores and restaurants were back in operation.

Some areas, such as north of Gildford, did not get power returned until late Sunday.

 

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