Area bounces back from storm induced outage

After high winds, driving rain, and lightning struck the Panhandle the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 25, thousands of Boundary and Bonner County residents found themselves without power.  

Bonneville Power Administration, an electric utility provider for most of western Montana and North Idaho, had lines down due to the storm. Bonners Ferry utilizes BPA.  

It took repair crews more than a day to restore power in the area’s smaller communities due to the downed trees, damaged equipment, and phone service outages.  

Boundary County Road and Bridge was out late into the night on Sept. 25 removing downed trees. Northern Lights and city of Bonners Ferry crews were working late into the morning moving downed trees and changing out transformers.  

Mike Klaus, Bonners Ferry city administrator/engineer, told city councilors at the Oct. 1 meeting that it was the worst outage in over a decade. He said that if the city hadn’t invested in infrastructure updates, such as backup generators at sewer lift stations, water service in addition to power would have been lost for the city’s utility users.  

If the storm had taken place five years ago, the region’s outage would have been prolonged due to that lack of infrastructure. 

While Bonners Ferry has the city dam, Klaus said that contrary to popular belief, when BPA is down, the dam has to be shut off to not overload the source.  

By Thursday, Sept. 26, most of the North Bench, Bonners Ferry and portions of Naples had had power restored. Northern Lights users in the Pack River, Selle Valley, Colburn Culver, Gold Creek, Priest River and Priest Lake areas were also affected and have since had power. 

The power outage prompted the Boundary County School District to close all district schools last Thursday and West Bonner County School District to close Priest Lake Elementary.  

Much of the damage to power infrastructure occurred around 5 p.m. Wednesday, when bursts of strong wind felled trees and brought down power lines across North Idaho. According to Northern Lights Inc., crews worked to replace 15 broken power poles overnight and restrung downed wires.  

Services across Boundary County were disrupted throughout Wednesday night and Thursday. Additionally, multiple fallen powerlines across Perkins Lake Road forced Boundary County Road and Bridge to close the street from Solomon Lake Road to Perkins Lake Thursday morning.  

Additionally, numerous Bonners Ferry businesses in the community were unable to open Thursday morning. With gas stations closed, many residents traveled to Bonner County for fuel and other supplies. The gas station in Samuels was the nearest fuel up location for Boundary residents, resulting in long lines on Thursday morning.  

Boundary Community Hospital remained open throughout the storm by operating on a backup generator. Hospital officials reported Thursday morning they were using emergency command protocols to ensure patients received care — most outpatient services were canceled.  

There was a fatality due to the storm. A 17-year-old Lake Pend Oreille High School high school senior died that evening when he was struck by a falling tree during the fast windstorm that swept through the area. Charlie Miller was rushed to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane but did not survive surgery. 

Miller, the youngest of four brothers, was described as a "very happy kid" by school staff. His three older siblings had all previously graduated from Lake Pend Oreille High School. 

"Charlie Miller was in his final year at Lake Pend Oreille High School, Lake Pend Oreille School District officials said in a press release. “Because he also attended both Kootenai Elementary School and Sandpoint Middle School, this tragedy is being felt district-wide by friends, families and teachers." 

Graveside services took place at Lakeview Cemetery on Wednesday with a private viewing for the family.