The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

If you lived along The High-Line long enough you certainly have experienced winter storms in nearly every month of the calendar with the exception of maybe July. We've all seen snow in June in August, but the storm that came through last weekend was one of those that goes in the category of "I'll never forget".

The storm blanketed the region with a heavy wet snow that wreaked havoc on trees, power lines and anything that it would stick to. The leaves of fall are always so beautiful and truly a sight to see but with this particular storm they may also have been the cause of a lot of destruction.

Many of the trees throughout the region were just starting to lose their leaves and turn into all the beautiful colors of fall but they were still full of life and collected the snow in massive quantities forcing limbs to break or in many cases the whole tree to crumble knocking down power lines and poles in the process,

The amount of snow fall and precipitation varied throughout Blaine County and 10-14" would be a safe number to estimate for much of the region but reports are that some areas of the county received nearly 30 inches of snow.

The combination of wind, rain at first and then the heavy snowfall left Blaine County in the dark by Monday evening or in some cases early Tuesday morning.

The city of Harlem had power restored Tuesday afternoon but outlying residents remained in the dark. The city of Chinook didn't receive power back until late Wednesday afternoon and the communities of Turner, Hogeland, Hays and Lodge Pole had their lights come back on sometime Thursday.

NorthWestern Energy estimated nearly 9,000 customers along the High-line were without power in the beginning and getting them all turned back on was certainly going to take some time. Unfortunately it was the rural residents that required the most time to get turned back on and in some cases they still haven't had their power.

Residence to the west of Chinook had their power restored late Saturday, other rural homes saw their power come back on Sunday evening and late Monday night residence just west of Chinook had their lights come back on.

The Storm certainly brought some much needed moisture to the area but the damage it caused was something many haven't seen in years if ever. The number of trees and power poles knocked down with staggering but when tragedy strikes or difficult times present itself in small town America, especially on The High-line in North Central Montana one thing has become evident while writing this story; "Neighbors help neighbors" and talking with the Blaine County attorney Kelsey Hardwood, Judge Perry Miller, local law enforcement officers as well as Lori Huestis and Shannon Sattleen of our local EMS crew it came to light that there were no calls made to these agencies while residence of Blaine County we're facing these trying times. It's quite a testament to the resolve of all of our residents that when faced with these types of circumstances we all come together to ensure that the needs of the others are met.

Mayor Bill Taylor of Harlem said "It was one of the most unusual storms that I've ever seen, no one seemed to think it was going to be that bad but when it hit it felt like a February blizzard."

Richard Mohar, Public Utilities Director for the city of Harlem, stated that the water treatment plant was running on emergency power for much of the first part of last week and was expecting to have power restored Friday and that the city was doing well and was prioritizing Water and Sewer Service to the city.

Mohar said "I can remember as a kid, there were some bad storms but as far as recent times go this is about as bad as it gets. People came together and help each other out and that's what you do in small towns."

Chinook Mayor Keith Hanson was proud of the way the city handled the situation, "The City Crew was phenomenal in every department, coming together to get the things done to assist in anyway possible from helping those in need to getting the power back on."

The City functioned without much interruption on their end, "We had to use some pumps to keep the two lift stations operational and John Pike Construction was immediately on hand to assist with that," Hanson stated. "Miller Brothers Tree service was also instantly available and at the ready to help with any tree and branch removal from power lines, street and alley ways, to be able to have a professional operation like that was extremely helpful. What a great community to live in when we can all come together when things get tough. Everybody watched out for each other and thats real special."

Perry Miller and his crew were out on the streets from the get go and haven't left yet. "Jimmy and I sat down last night and went through the numbers and we figured we had removed close to 300,000 pounds of refuse from the city, that's 150 tons,"

"The city has indicated they want to make it safe on the streets and the sidewalks," said Miller. "We live here, it's what we do, so we are helping people out with removal, chipping whatever needs to be done. Taking broken branches off street light, wires off services in back yards and what not and picking up the refuse on the sidewalks and in the street."

"We have been hauling it to the landfill, we've pretty much filled that up we figure we took 40 trailer loads and were right at about 15-20 dump truck loads right now It's been interesting, it's been busy," concluded Miller.

The Blaine County Courthouse was opened all week using backup emergency power and a huge generator. School in Chinook was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday and opened Thursday. The Cleveland in North Harlem schools were open all week Hays/ Lodgepole had no school throughout the week and Zurich School returned Friday. Harlem High School missed days on Tuesday and Wednesday but we're back in the building on Thursday.

Harlem High School Superintendent Doreen Warren said they dismiss school on Tuesday due to the weather and Wednesday due to lack of power and ensure building safety and making sure there was no damage to the structure Marty Jordan and a small task staff was present at the school throughout both days.

Warren stated that we are okay as far as aggregate hours ago and we have no need to make up any days as they build snow days into the calendar when we put it together in the spring.

Warrant also stated that the students were happy to be back at school and see their friends when they arrived Thursday morning

People in town were very open with their homes providing needed to Sessa tease be at a warm meal or shower or whatever we all did what was needed.

Chinook school superintendent Darren had them also stated that students were dismissed from classes and Tuesday and Wednesday and returned Thursday I tried new things during this storm as a used alertsense at 5:30 Tuesday morning to notify the leadership team and what was going on Hannum States the dealer since was an effective tool and encourages more people to sign up for the service..

eorge Dugan prepares to haul a load of still brightly colored debris from his property. Chainsaws, trucks and trailers were a common sight this weekend as people began removing refuse from their properties.

Similar to the situation and Harlem Hannum stated that Chinook schools of also built in snow days into their schedule and should the circumstance like this arise again they could actually ask for another day through a board resolution he said facilities were made available to students and their families without power for warm showers and whatever Necessities the school could provide classes in Hays Lodgepole were also dismissed K through 12 principal Beth Kendall stated that power came back on at 4 p.m. Thursday

Candle said quote I found to be a real bonding experience we were in teacher housing in Hayes and we shared food shovels whatever was needed to get each other help it was inconvenient but the best of people helping people out I've always felt welcome here in this community and feel that the kids really take it in stride they are accustomed to living in remote conditions.

Power and Turner came back Thursday afternoon and community was also very committed to helping each other get through the times community members brought generators and equipment to run the local store and it function does business with as usual with a hot cup of coffee and small talk each morning the sewer department ensured that the tanks were empty and classes were dismissed Tuesday afternoon at 11:30 the community in church seniors were warm by moving generators from one location to the next