Missoula mayor praises storm response
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Missoula's mayor on Monday night spoke at length about last week's storm that devastated the city's power grid, toppled thousands of trees and forced residents to restrict water use for several days.
But in the end, Andrea Davis described it as an “amazing, intense and incredible experience” that miraculously resulted in no deaths.
“I just want to acknowledge the incredible resilience we've seen across the community, despite how challenging it was,” Davis said. “We really saw what makes the fabric of Missoula, Missoula. People really came out to help one another, and still are. It was heartwarming and tremendous to see that.”
While the cost of the storm hasn't been tallied, early estimates place it in the tens of millions of dollars. Davis said the city and county have shifted from initial response to recovery. At the request of the city and county, Gov. Greg Gianforte issued a disaster declaration last week.
The Montana National Guard also has been in Missoula for the past several days assisting with water and ice distribution, given that many residents went several days without power.
“There are a number of steps that have to be taken, and basically some costs incurred before we get to that point,” Davis said of FEMA assistance. “The city is in the process with the assumption that it may file for a presidential (disaster) declaration to access FEMA dollars.”
The city has yet to estimate current storm costs, or how it will tally those costs.
The National Weather Service warned for days that a change in weather was anticipated. Several large fires were burning north and south of Missoula at the time, and they were steadily growing under triple-digit temperatures and light winds.
Weather officials implement a Red Flag Warning the prior day – a tool that warns of inclement weather and the potential for active fire conditions. What came instead wasn't predicted, Davis said.
“What actually occurred wasn't predicted,” she said. “To use a common term, it was 'a perfect storm.' We were prepared from a local incident command network to be prepared for significant fire. These were high fire conditions. What ensued was much different.”
The storm lit up the radar hours before arrival, appearing as a line of red storm cells over the Idaho border. At 9:30 p.m., the wind began to pick up and the lightning flashed. Minutes later, wind speeds reached hurricane-force and lasted for roughly one hour.
The results knocked out power to nearly 50,000 residents, brought traffic to a standstill and decimated the city's prized urban forest. Davis said current estimates suggest that the city alone lost 600 trees, just in the public right of way – and not including city parks or private property.
In one evening, Missoula's skyline was altered for the next 40 years. While some media have suggested that the 85 mile-per-hour wind speeds didn't match other Montana storms, they didn't consider the breadth of the storm and its impact on Montana's second largest city - and multiple outlying counties.
“It became clear on (Thursday) morning how widespread the storm was,” Davis said. “I'm so pleased we had no deaths. People have bumps, bruises and scrapes, but when it comes to significant injuries and no deaths resulting from the storm, we managed to escape that.”