KALISPELL - Flathead Electric Cooperative (FEC) reports some progress is being made in restoring power that was knocked out by Wednesday's storm.
According to a news release, crews restored power to several thousand members on Thursday even as new outages continue to occur.
FEC reports as of around 1:45 p.m., there were approximately 13,000 members without power along with over 200 individual outages.
Click here for the latest FEC power outage information.
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Crews from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Missoula Electric Cooperative are continuing to assist FEC, along with two contract tree crews.
Additionally, Glacier Electric Cooperative is expected to begin helping FEC crews Thursday afternoon.
Here is where FEC crews are working:
- Kalispell – larger outages have mostly been taken care of, work continues, and smaller outages are now seeing crews
- McMannamy Draw – larger outages are expected to be resolved this afternoon
- Foothills area – expected restoration this afternoon
- Patrick Creek – crews are working, expected to be back on later this afternoon
- Rocky Cliff – restored!
- Browns Meadow – crews are working on various outages and expect to slowly bring this area back online this afternoon
- Echo Lake – crews encountered more damage than anticipated; timeline unknown
- Whitefish – larger outages north of Whitefish are expected to be restored this afternoon; work on smaller outages will begin after that
- Helena Flats– expected restoration this afternoon
- Highway 206 – expected restoration later this afternoon
- Lakeside – crews are expected to begin working later today
- Swan – crews expect restoration this afternoon, then will begin working in the Bigfork and Ferndale areas
FEC members are encouraged to look at the Flathead Electric Cooperative Outage Viewer to determine the size of the outage impacting them and plan accordingly, as outages are prioritized by safety and then, in part, by size. Some members impacted by smaller outages should be prepared to spend Thursday night without power.
Workers will continue to work around the clock until all members are restored. Additional progress is expected on Friday, as well as more mutual aid from Rocky Mountain, Lincoln, and Ravalli electric co-ops, a release states.
