33 Hours Without Power

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  February 9, 2017.  Gusting winds over 60 mph took down four power poles above Garden City and seven in Montpelier, Idaho causing the longest power outage in over 30 years.  Lance Bourne, Rocky Mountain Power said that his crews worked through both nights without sleep in harsh weather conditions.  The rain melting snow made some roads and trails impassable.

Photos by Joey Stocking, Garden City

Home Town Drive In and Quick and Tasty had signs damaged by wind and snow. Fire crews were sent to a fire in Meadowville.

 


The Special Service District personnel, under the direction of Mark Stringham, also were awake all night making sure there were no backups because the pumps could not work.

The outage was felt in Garden City and Laketown with pockets of outages in Montpelier.  Garden City residents were urged to come to the LDS Church which had power or the Bear Trapper Steakhouse and Pizza for warm meals if they could not cook.  Neighbors checked in with neighbors to make sure everyone had a warm place to sleep.  Many people checked their 72 hour kits and learned that some were not as complete as they had hoped and were using this as a incentive to become more prepared.

In addition to the power outage, snow and mudslides closed the Logan Canyon for several hours and many people had to take Emigration Canyon which added another 1 1/2 hour to their trip from Logan to Garden City.

Several homes had water damage from leaking roofs and a home near Pickleville Playhouse sustained significant damage from a tree which fell on the roof.