Windstorm topples trees, and knocks out power

SANDPOINT — Tuesday evenings storm caused power outages, road blockages and a slew of smoke reports.

Dispatchers logged more 16 reports of traffic hazards in all parts of the county caused by trees and limbs downed in the roadway. Downed trees were reported on Highway 200 in Hope, in addition to Selle, Samuels, Colburn Culver and Schweitzer Mountain roads. On the west side, Highway 57 was reportedly littered with downed trees and branches. Traffic hazards were also reported in Laclede and Priest River, in addition to Eastside, West Lakeshore and Bodie Canyon roads.

Trees falling into power lines interrupted service for Northern Lights and Avista customers, the utilities said on Wednesday.

Avista reported more than 200 outages, which affected more than 1,100 customers. Six outages were reported in Hope, while 18 were reported in Priest River, affecting more than 80 customers.

Northern Lights reported 33 outages, which affected nearly 1,400 customers. As of Wednesday evening power had been restored to 1,100 customers, according to Northern Lights.

Bob Howard, director of Emergency Management, said his office received a lot of downed power reports and traffic hazards, but hadn’t received any reports of homes or structures being damaged.

The National Weather Service in Spokane posted to Twitter a 24-hour lightning count map which showed 3,499 cloud-to-ground strikes and 28,630 cloud flashes in northern Idaho and eastern Washington.

There were no reports, however, of fires being touched off by lightning strikes. No reports of wildfire were made by the Panhandle National Forests or Inciweb, the national clearinghouse for incident information.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.