Winter storm rocks the East Shore

A winter storm that slapped the Flathead Valley on Friday night caused the closure of Highway 35, knocked out power along the East Shore of Flathead Lake and killed one person, according to a spokesman with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Jerome S. Dubiel, 24, of Ronan, was killed at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday when a tree fell on his 1995 Honda Accord as he headed northbound on Highway 35. The accident occurred at mile marker 17.

Downed trees knocked out power lines and made portions of the highway impassable from south of Woods Bay to Polson.

Bill Walsh, with the Montana Department of Transportation's Kalispell office said crews were working throughout the day on Saturday to clear the road, but the wind was making it difficult.

“They’re trying to get it open, but every time they turn around another tree is down,” he said on Saturday afternoon. “They’re doing the best they can.”

A southerly section of the highway was closed until early Sunday morning, with even homeowners in the area unable to get back to their houses because of the many trees blocking the road.

Crews from Flathead Electric and Mission Valley Power were also moving up and down the highway working on downed lines to restore power to residents along the lower stretches of the highway.

The University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station got hammered in the high winds, losing some 30 old growth trees around the 80 acre station.

 “We lost 30 or more of our biggest p-pines, and about a third of the larger Grand and Douglas firs on the entire grounds went down,” station Director Jack Stanford said in a press release from UM. “We have thousands of board feet of solid old timber on the ground. It is very sad.”

Stanford said most of the trees were uprooted rather than snapped off – perhaps because the ground was very dry and not frozen.

“We have seen wind like this many times in the past without trees coming down,” he said.

The station was without power for 19 hours, but only suffered minor damage to a few buildings.

Don Schwennesen, a Bigfork realtor, had his camper smashed by a falling tree at his home in Yellow Bay. His pickup was also damaged by a fallen tree.

“I haven’t seen a windstorm like that in years,” he said. “In fact, it was probably the worst one I’ve ever seen.”

Schwennesen said his power was out for about 10 hours, but that he was “thrilled and delighted” that Flathead Electric was able to get it back on in that time, considering the mayhem.

Though the high winds have abated, the National Weather Service is predicting continued low temperatures for the remainder of the week.

Updated information on road conditions can be found on the Department of Transportation's Web site at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/.