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Downed line drops power around Havre, Chinook

Parts of town experienced brownout conditions after a powerline between the Fort Assinniboine substation and the one in Highland Park went down.

The electrical problems went beyond Havre. Some Chinook-area residents said they too were having trouble.

Calls started coming in to the Havre Police Department about electricity troubles just after 5 p.m. A NorthWestern Energy spokesperson said power should have been restored to everyone in town by 6:40 p.m.

They also said they did not know why the power line went down and were investigating, but mentioned the wind and rain that has come up in the past few days.

Dave Sheppard, Havre fire chief, said this morning that a power line fell from its pole along U. S. Highway 87, causing small grass fires wherever it touched the ground.

The fire department extinguished those and investigated smoke smells reported from several locations across town, though nothing came of them before the smell went away when power was restored.

Rolling brownouts were reported throughout town.

Several local businesses — including Pizza Hut, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods and Wells Fargo Bank — experienced electrical problems and evacuated customers.

The police department says a downed power line took out power, including to street lights, and caused power surges. Both NorthWestern Energy and the Montana Department of Transportation were working on getting power lines and traffic lights back up, within an hour of the outages first being reported.

 

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