Lightning takes out some water in Rocky Boy

A pump house on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation was still without electricity this morning after it lost power Friday night, knocking two wells out of service and affecting service to 300 homes, Chippewa Cree Tribal Water Resources Department Director Dustin White said.

White said this morning that he would be getting an update on the situation and figures for how much it will cost to make the needed repairs this morning.

He could not be reached for additional comment before print deadline.

White said Saturday that none of the 300 homes impacted are without water because the water resources department was able to open a valve to bleed water from three wells in the upper water system.

A post on the Facebook page of KHEW 88.5 FM, the tribe’s radio station, Saturday at noon said an outage occurred at the pump house.

White confirmed in a Facebook instant messenger conversation Saturday afternoon  an outage had taken place at the Box Elder pump house, where groundwater pump controls and electrical breakers for parts of the reservation’s water system are located and where water is chlorinated.

“Currently, our Box Elder pump house has no power,” White said Saturday.

He added that they would not be able to obtain some of the parts needed to get the wells back into operation until today or Tuesday.

The two wells produce 20 to 30 gallons of water a minute or 30,000 to 42,000 gallons per day.

White said the cause of the outage is not known, but it is believed the pump house took a direct hit from lightning during a thunderstorm that passed through the area between 9:30 and 11 p.m Friday.

The pump house is a quarter-mile east of Box Elder School. White said the outage has left two groundwater wells out of operation.

The outage has affected service to 300 homes in the Blue Tower, Prairie View, Country View and Wild Rose villages, White said.

He said the Lone Tree Bar in Box Elder also was hit by lightning and lost electricity. Calls made to the bar Saturday and this morning were not answered by deadline.