Saturday Wind Knocks Down Trees, Power Outages

Clean-up was continuing Sunday, June 14, from a strong wind storm Saturday afternoon that knocked down trees and caused power outages in the Hamilton area. The winds, unofficially estimated at over 60 miles an hour, knocked trees into power lines causing outages in the south end of Hamilton and on the west side, where crews cleared trees along Ricketts Road. The Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department and Hamilton Police responded to numerous downed tree alerts in about an hour as the violent storm quickly passed through the valley. A huge tree blocked South 3rd Street at the intersection with Grove near the Rocky Mountain Laboratories.

No injuries were reported as of Sunday. Power crews quickly restored electricity in affected areas. Much of Western Montana received rain and hail from the large storm front, but the Bitterroot Valley got the wind.