Seeley Lake logger Brett Haines attempts to remove the twin top of a ponderosa pine. The top broke off smashing through Seeley Lake residents Ray and Barbara Cebulski's second floor during the storm early Wednesday morning, Nov. 18. Haines was unable to lift the tree top off the house without first cutting off some of the tree's weight.
One of the seven MEC power poles that snapped during the wind storm laying on north Boy Scout Road in Seeley Lake Nov. 18.
Seeley Lake volunteers worked through the night documenting the problem areas, cleaning roads if safe and flagging and putting up cones to warn the public of power line hazards as seen here.
A tree blew over on Phase 1A of the Double Arrow Ranch tipping up a shed with the root ball and crushing a parked truck. No one was injured.
The wind twisted this ponderosa pine off its stump. It landed on the beach at Big Larch Campground.
The wind tore the metal sheeting on the roof off this home on Boy Scout Road.
SEELEY LAKE - Many residents in Missoula County were awakened Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, Nov. 17-18 by the sounds of trees snapping and, what some described, as "a freight train" roaring through the area.
Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC) had system-wide power outages. The outages extended from Superior, Mont., to the Bitterroot Valley, north to Swan River Youth Camp and east to Ovando and Helmville, Mont. MEC reported between 3,000-3,500 customers without power due to the windstorm with Seeley Lake and the Swan Valley being hit the hardest.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Missoula, Mont. issued a weather advisory as a strong cold front moved across the region Tuesday night. The front concentrated winds as the wind direction shifted from southwest to northwest. The forecast advised residents in the Bitterroot, Garrison Junction to MacDonald Pass, Homestake Pass and Georgetown Lake and its vicinity of wind gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour (mph). "Winds of this magnitude will be perilous for high-profile vehicles, damage to mature trees, significant damage to wooden power poles and damage to outdoor items sent airborne," wrote the NWS in their advisory. The rest of the Northern Rockies could expect 60 mph gusts in the high valleys, mountain ridges and mountain passes.
Winds in the Seeley Lake area started to pick up around 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17. The Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS), located on Skyport Drive in Seeley Lake, reported sustained winds from 9 mph – 15 mph until 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. Gusts reached more than 20 mph until just after 1 a.m. when they reached 35 mph and peaked out 46 mph just after 2 a.m.
The RAWS at the Condon Work Station reported an average wind speed of less than 10 mph throughout the evening and night. The strongest gusts were recorded just after 3 a.m. reaching 31 mph.
MEC Manager of Operations Bart Peterson said that the first MEC crews started working around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
"Between 12:30 – 1 a.m. we lost the transmission line in Seeley Lake. Then we really started ramping up," said Peterson. "All our major problems were in Seeley and the Swan."
Peterson said they had every available MEC worker out fixing lines from the linemen to the meter technicians, staking engineers, tree trimmers and warehouse workers. MEC's administrative staff was busy answering phones and relaying outage information to the crews in the field.
"We worked around the clock," said Peterson. "We had our guys [and gals] put in as many hours as we felt were safe."
Peterson highlighted that the job of a lineman is in the top 10 most dangerous occupations.
"There are a lot of ways to get killed and the odds go way up after dark," said Peterson. "We had no injuries and no damaged equipment. Our people did a wonderful job."
The Seeley Lake volunteers were also out Wednesday morning when the first call came in around 1 a.m. for a downed power line on Seeley Lane.
"It's very important that we are proactive during storms like this. We are responsible for life safety," said Seeley Lake Fire Chief Vanden Heuvel. "We were out looking for houses with trees on them, documenting and securing dangerous areas [by flagging and putting up cones where lines were down and removing trees from the roads when possible] and making sure routes are cleared in case of an emergency."
Seven MEC power poles snapped in the wind all in the Seeley Lake area and five transformers went down system-wide. Peterson estimated there were 25 people working in the Seeley Lake and Swan Valley to restore power. By Thursday night, crews were able to restore power to 95 percent of MEC customers and were still working on lines near the Summit and around the north end of Lake Inez.
Very few neighborhoods in Seeley Lake were untouched by the wind. Treetops were seen broken off and whole trees tipped over in all directions around town damaging fences, vehicles and homes. Some of the hardest hit areas in Seeley Lake were around the backside of Boy Scout Road, Dogtown, and Phase 1A of Double Arrow off of Wagon Wheel Drive and around the Seeley Lake Airport.
Ray and Barbara Cebulski had one top of a twin-top ponderosa pine come through the middle of their house on Skyport Drive.
"The wind came up around 12 a.m.," said Barbara. "We heard this horrible wind noise and crash on the house. We opened our bedroom door and could see the tree from inside the house."
The top of the tree crashed through the roof into the Cebulski home's second floor, damaging the bedroom, bathroom, storage areas and hallway. Barbara said that the force of the tree was enough to crack the walls on the main floor.
"It's something I don't want to do again," said Barbara. "I want to thank everyone for rushing in and helping us. There were no injuries, just a lot of fright."
The Cebulski's are waiting for the insurance claim before they can permanently fix their home. They have temporarily patched their roof so they can still live in it.
Despite all the property damage and lack of power for some for more than 48 hours, Vanden Heuvel said that there were no injuries reported from the storm.
"We had five volunteers out working plus myself, town was safe, no injuries, we put blocks on the power lines and had ample volunteers on standby if I would have needed them," said Vanden Heuvel. "Hats off to MEC. They did a great job,"
"I want to thank the people for being cooperative and patient while MEC folks were out there working," said Peterson. "And thank you to the guys who worked as hard as they did to get everyone's power back on."
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