MISSOULA — The storm on Wednesday evening left Missoula with power outages, trees down, power lines down and street lights out.
Missoula County has opened an information hotline that people can call with non-emergency concerns. The number is 406-258-4636.
The Red Cross has also opened a shelter at the Missoula Elections Center for people who need to charge devices or step into the air conditioning. There are no medical services available at the shelter.
The City of Missoula is also asking people to conserve water as the pumps are currently running off of generators.
Additionally, many traffic lights across town are still not working and the city is asking people to only travel for necessary purposes.
“There's a lot of emergency traffic on roads. There's a lot of folks working on power restoration, there's saw crews out there. We would ask people to not travel unnecessarily. So by all means, travel to get to do your necessary things. But please don't be on the roads more than you need to be today," advised Missoula County Deputy Disaster and Emergency Service Coordinator Nick Holloway.
"There are traffic lights down — lights down across the area and it makes traveling a little bit harder and people should be more cautious and drive slower for sure. When you come to an intersection where the traffic light is not functioning properly, try and treat that as a four-way stop," he continued.
Watch the full interview with Nick Holloway below.
Missoula County has also received reports of downed power lines in streams and rivers and people are asked not to take to the water.
Storm debris drop-off sites are also being set up across Missoula.
- PRIMARY DROP SITE: Garden City Compost, 1125 Clark Fork Ln. Mon. – Sat., 8 am – 5 pm,
- SECONDARY SITES
- Fort Missoula Regional Park, 36th St. Parking lot
- McCormick Park, east lot
- Playfair Park, West lot, north of ballfields
- FMRP “Larchmont Triangle” – open space west of Larchmont parking lot, off of Post Siding Rd.
- FMRP Ponds – open space at the dead end of 40th Ave.
