1,100 lose power because of down line

A downed utility line behind Wilson Avenue in Havre's Highland Park section put about 1,100 NorthWestern Energy users out of power Sunday night.

Havre police, Hill County Sheriff's deputies and Havre firefighters were on hand on 11th Street, directing traffic around the scene.

NorthWestern spokesman Butch Larcombe said power was restored to most of the customers within an hour and 10 minutes. Others got electricity back within two hours.

"We're not sure why the power line went down," he said.

Some people called the Havre Daily News or reported on the newspaper’s Facebook page that they saw a flash of light in the sky at roughly the time of the outage, but Larcombe said the utility knew nothing about the light.