MISSOULA — While the cost of last week's storm is still being calculated, the challenges it posed to the city's infrastructure were known from the outset.
Many residents were without power for days and water restrictions lasted into the weekend. City staff logged hours of overtime, NorthWestern Energy called in crews from far and wide, and parking lots piled up with storm debris.
But even after adding it all up, the city's director of Public Works and Mobility said the overall system worked as intended.
“It was a test of our emergency response system, and it worked,” said Jeremy Keene. “It takes time to get things back online, but we got through this without any significant injuries and no deaths. People responded well.”
The storm plowed through Missoula, leaving large portions of the city without power. The scope of the damage became clear the following morning, with trees and power lines down, roads blocked and some homes damaged.
The winds also impacted key city infrastructure.
“We had the main power feed to the wastewater treatment plant knocked out and had to run the plant on generators for about 13 hours,” said Keene. “We had nearly all of our well sights on generators at one point. That system isn't designed for peak demand, so we had some concerns with tanks starting to draw down, especially in the South Hills.”
The city implemented water restrictions shortly after the storm to conserve water. Those restrictions remained in place until Sunday afternoon. Some river closures were also lifted on Sunday.
While things slowly return to normal, Keene said the cost of the storm remains in question. The state last week declared a disaster in both Missoula and Mineral counties, allowing FEMA to reimburse some storm costs.
“I don't know what the cost is at this point,” Keene said. “I don't think our staff time was extraordinary. The larger question is the larger damage and cleanup effort. There's a massive amount of tree debris to deal with. We're going to have to rent or buy additional chippers to take care of that.”
Keene said initial estimates suggest that more than 1,000 trees were lost or damaged. At one point, he said, 300 large trees were blocking streets or resting on power lines.
The storm also impacted city communications.
“We did have some communication issues with our radio towers. We were able to get those restored pretty quickly,” he said. “Whenever something like this happens, communication is a real challenge. Getting everyone in the same place to talk is challenging.”
