Storm causes county-wide outages
—Photo by STAR SILVA Power was restored within Bonners Ferry’s city limits Thursday night, however numerous reisidents within Boundary County continue to suffer from outages.
BONNERS FERRY — Down trees and power lines had Northern Lights and City of Bonners Ferry Utility crews scrambling Thursday to restore power to area residents and will continue to work throughout the night.
According to City of Bonners Ferry Mayor David Sims, the city has been experiencing a small scale of outages throughout the day, but as of 5 p.m., power had been restored to homes within city limits.
“So far, we’re looking good, but with the snow and ice weighing on the trees and power lines, it’s hard to say what will happen over the next 24 hours,” Sims said. “We would like to thank residents for their patience.”
County residents relying on Northern Lights, aren’t so lucky. Rural areas with more trees and snow accumulation have caused outages from Sandpoint to the Canadian borders and into Montana. According to Northern Lights’ website, as of 6 p.m. on Thursday, 4005 homes and businesses are without power in the Northern Lights service area.
According to a Northern Lights recorded message, residents should be prepared for extended outages that may last until Friday.
“This evening, Northern Lights is fighting through a significant ice and snow storm that continues to impact our area with widespread power outages,” according to the recorded message. “Additionally, ice and snow loaded trees and power lines will continue to complicate this problem by causing new outages over the next 24 hours. In response, we have all available line crews and contractors in the field working to address these problems, but due to the sheer number of outages that are occurring, we’re unable to provide specific estimates for restoration times at this point. Please be prepared for an extended outage that may last into tomorrow.”
The National Weather Service advises that the combination of rain and snow as well as warmer temperatures could lead to localized flooding issues due to melting snow and runoff. Ice jam flooding is also possible. The main threat of flooding will occur over the central Idaho Panhandle.
To report an after hours utility emergency, contact the Boundary County Sheriff’s office dispatch at 208-267-3151.
To report an outage in the county, contact Northern Lights at 866-665-4837.