Recordbreaking storm shuts down region

Monday and Tuesday's regional record-breaking snowfall for October brought down trees and power poles all over Havre and as far east as Malta, resulting in widespread power outages, countywide road closures and emergency services inundated with hundreds of calls, officials say.

Thirteen inches of snow fell in Havre from Monday through Tuesday at its recording station at the Havre City-County Airport, National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Nutter said this morning. The previous record, 12.6 inches, had been set and held since 1898.

Weather Service said Tuesday it had reports of from 12 inches to 16 inches of snow in Havre.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon said the city government is working on dealing with the damage in Havre.

"We just had a meeting on how were going to tackle this stuff," he said this morning.

Solomon said the city made an emergency declaration for Havre, and will make a formal declaration once the costs of cleanup and recovery reach the minimum $20,000.

"Which we probably have already," he added.

The emergency declaration at a cost of $20,000 will allow the city to access state funds to help pay for the emergency work and cleanup, Solomon said. At a much higher level, the city could access federal funds.

"We hope we don't get to the level of federal," he said.

The emergency-only travel restriction put in place Tuesday morning is over, Solomon said, but the city is urging people to stay off the roads unless they need to be out and to use extreme caution.

The condition of the roads, downed power lines, the chances of low-hanging branches breaking and heavy equipment clearing snow and branches means people still need to be careful, he said. He added that people using their own equipment to clear snow or branches need to be careful and watching for vehicles as well.

The city at this point is primarily trying to address the blockage and get the main streets cleared so people can get around, but the work will extend far into the future, Solomon said.

"It's going to be months," he said.

Much of Montana - from Cut Bank to Malta and as far south as Bozeman - got snowfall. But no region was hit as hard as southern Hill County, Nutter said.

"As you got to Havre, the snow increased quickly," Nutter said.

The Bear Paws saw as much as 30 inches of snow, Nutter added, which resulted in some cars being buried in snow on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation. A state of emergency was declared on Rocky Boy Tuesday afternoon.

The wet snow, compounded by 35 to 45 mph winds, snapped power poles and trees as a result of the its sticking to, freezing and - as the temperatures sank - toppling the fixtures, Nutter said.

"The weight of that snow sticking to the trees and power lines is what caused most of the problems,"Nutter said, adding that it was a combination of factors that resulted in so much trouble.

The storm was caused by cold air from Canada mixing with moisture from the south.

NorthWestern Energy spokesperson Butch Larcombe said this morning that about 9,000 customers - households and businesses - lost power starting Monday. The power outages stretche as far east as Malta, although a bulk were Havre residents, he said. As of this morning, about 3,200 customers were still without power, a majority of them in Chinook and east, Larcombe said.

Larcombe said an estimated 200 power poles collapsed, and after a flyover assessment, that number could double. The main transmission lines were repaired, bringing power back to large areas, but individual down power lines is what is left to fix. Crews have been working hard, he said, to get power back to everyone else.

Hill County Electric said in statement, "Hill County Electric was met with very trying conditions from the most recent storm. Our crews were faced with outages throughout our entire service area which encompasses the rural areas outside of the towns. Contract crews were brought in to assist our lineman in helping to restore power to our members as quickly and safely as possible."

The police department got "hundreds and hundreds of calls" Tuesday, Havre City Police Chief Gabe Matosich said this morning. People wanted to know when the power will come back on, some asked for help removing trees and limbs, others needed help getting in their homes, and some people had medical issues they needed help with. The police department said early Tuesday that travel should be limited to emergency use only.

The department had all hands on deck, Matosich said, as the normal crimes didn't cease. The department responded to many crashes and the "usual disturbances" as well.

Matosich said the department is recommending essential driving only today because some roads, most of them side roads, have limbs and such in the way.

The Hill County Sheriff's Office used some of their manpower to patrol for stranded people in cars, Sheriff Jamie Ross said. People who were found stranded in their cars were taken to a warm, safe place, he said. Some of the difficulties included accessing some areas due to the heavy snow, even though they had four-wheel drive.

The southern county roads are in the worst condition, Hill County Road Department Road Supervisor Andy Hanson said this morning. It took eight hours to plow four miles Tuesday, he said, adding that they were plowing through about four feet of snow. The work ahead includes plowing 1,830 miles of road with nine graders.

"Our crews have been working really hard," Hanson said. "We've been running overtime and we will continue until we finish."

Hanson said he hopes the weather will begin to chip in some help.

Nutter said temperatures will be steadily rising as the week progresses and by Friday high temperatures should soar to 50 degrees and the snow will be melting.