Hundreds were left without power west of Kalispell Wednesday evening and many more suffered property damage as a series of strong thunderstorms moved through the Flathead Valley and Flathead Lake areas bringing rain, heavy winds and large hail.

More than 1,500 customers began losing power near Glen Lake around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday evening, according to Melissa Brandon, a member services communications and marketing specialist with Lincoln Electric Cooperative. Crews have been working non-stop since the storms hit to restore power to the area, but Brandon said the work is difficult.

“It was pretty much a corridor of damage that started in Star Meadows and increased in intensity as it moved over the mountain and came down in Trego,” she said. “It was even stronger as it went through Fortine and Deep Creek. It was stronger still as it passed Grave Creek and Therriault Creek and when it reached Glen Lake, it unleashed its fury. The damage increased as the storm moved north, but Glen Lake was definitely hit the hardest.”

Brandon said the crews replaced five power poles overnight and seven more as of 2 p.m. Thursday, but there were at least five more down and at least one area where crews had not yet been able to assess the damage.

The storms were just as powerful as they moved through the Kalispell area earlier in the evening, dropping golf ball-size hail in places.

Voni Hutzenbiler said the storm took her by surprise as it moved past her home on Merganser Drive around 5 p.m.

“We didn’t hear it coming because I was fixing supper. The dog started barking, so I went to see who was at the front door and it turned out to be hail smashing against it,” she said. “It was nuts here for about 15 minutes. I have never seen hail quite like that.”

Hutzenbiler, who has lived in Kalispell for 33 years, said she has not seen a hail storm like that since moving away from the Billings area. The hailstones tore shingles off the roof, left holes in her vinyl fence and window screens and put dents in her house while also knocking off paint.

Patrick Booth knew there was hail moving through the area and was ready with his camera as the storm moved over his home east of Glacier Park International Airport.

“We were sitting here and the sky just broke open and we got everything from pea to quarter-size hail,” he said. “A lot of people around us just got rain, but the hail took a half-dollar size chunk out of the rain gutters at our house.”

Kalispell was not the only area to experience large hail. Pea to golf ball-size hail was reported from Polson and Big Arm to north of Whitefish and east of Bigfork.

Scott Corbin, who lives in a metal-roofed home 7 miles northwest of Whitefish said his property was hit by three separate hail storms in a 20-minute time span around 8 p.m.

“I haven’t been up on the roof to assess the damage, but I know I have an air vent that is not in the same place as it used to be. I’m sure it was broken off as it was knocked clear off the roof,” he said. “I live in a pretty tiny home and it was shaking pretty good with the wind and the hail was deafening as it hit the metal roof.”

The hail left the ground around his home covered in ice, dented his truck and filled the bottom of the raft he had sitting outside.

Chelsey Tidwell was mowing her lawn in the upper foothills area northeast of Bigfork when quarter-size hail began falling around her. Luckily, she was able to seek shelter inside her home as the storm moved through quickly resulting in little or no damage to her property. A lifelong resident of the area, she said she had never seen hail that large.

According to meteorologist Bob Nester with the National Weather Service in Missoula, conditions were near perfect for hail formation with yesterday’s thunderstorms.

“The warm, moist air, coupled with atmospheric instability in the area was the perfect recipe for the type of large, tall thunderstorms that produce hail,” he said.

Nester said hail storms started forming in the area around 4 p.m. Wednesday accompanied by 40 to 50 mile-per-hour winds. The storms moved at the relatively slow pace of 30 mph throughout the area, allowing the hail to accumulate as it fell.

The National Weather Service is forecasting 1 to 2 inches of rain in the Flathead Valley as a weak cold front moves through the area Sunday through Tuesday of next week with the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier Park seeing as much as 2.5 inches.

It’s been a particularly wet June in the Flathead Valley, with month-to-date precipitation in Kalispell at 3.06 inches, compared to an average month-to-date amount of 2.11 inches.

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.