It’s a one-two punch south Lincoln County residents will not soon forget.

Following last week’s catastrophic flooding, damaging winds late Tuesday night and Wednesday knocked down trees across Western Montana, damaging homes and property, blocking roads and causing power outages that are affecting tens of thousands of customers.

Fortunately, many downed trees have already been cut up by public works crews and private citizens, opening roads to travel.

Wednesday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office urged residents to only drive or travel if it's an emergency, but that was lifted Thursday. The traffic light at the intersection of U.S. 2 and Commerce Way was not working Wednesday and a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks employee was doing traffic control.

School officials in Libby cancelled school for the rest of the 2025 and will resume Jan. 5, 2026. Troy Public Schools cancelled classes for Thursday, but they will be open Friday. Fairytale Day will be held at the elementary school and Spirit Week activities at the Junior/Senior high school.

Cell phone service was also affected. 

The outage affected roughly 28,000 Flathead Electric Cooperative customers, as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, including large portions of Libby, Kalispell, Whitefish, Coram and Bigfork.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, power was restored to nearly half of those previously affected, but nearly 13,500 customers were still without power. In Lincoln County, the number was 4,776 confirmed or reported with crews assigned to 4,662. 

In Flathead County, 8,718 customers were still without power.

Flathead Electric said crews are at work addressing multiple outages and expect to make slow and steady progress Thursday. There are over 150 outages currently impacting the system. Some areas have experienced severe damage. 

"Your Co-op is expecting this widespread outage to be a multi-day event and encourages members to prepare accordingly," officials said. "This damage will take time to resolve because crews are encountering wet, saturated ground conditions which, combined with massive, uprooted trees laying across lines and muddy ground, are making it extremely difficult for heavy trucks and equipment to safely reach damaged lines and poles." 

Crews worked through Wednesday night. 

"While this progress is encouraging, your Co-op wants members to know that the hurricane-force winds damaged the grid more extensively than originally assessed."

For Northern Lights customers, 325 customers were without power in the Troy area as of Wednesday morning, more than 400 were affected in the Bull Lake area and more than 300 were without power in the Yaak. Another 172 customers outside of Troy near the Idaho border were also without power.

As of Thursday morning, 2,741 were without power in Lincoln County and 787 in northern Idaho.

Northern Lights issued the following statement:

"Our crews are in the middle of a marathon restoration effort right now, and there is still a lot of storm damage across the Northern Lights system that must be worked through safely and methodically. Overnight we were able to restore an additional 1,500 services, bringing the number of members without power down to approximately 3,500 locations as of this morning."

Company officials said one of its bigger challenges are two dozen damaged power poles that must be replaced before the areas around them can be re-energized. Each pole replacement requires a dedicated crew and typically takes a couple of hours—and during that time, that crew cannot work other outages.

Restoration continues to be prioritized in this order: Transmission, then large distribution feeders, then smaller neighborhood taps, and finally individual service repairs.

"Please be aware that in many cases, the most isolated outages impacting individual homes may not be addressed until Saturday," official said. "We also want to recognize what it means to be a lineman during events like this. Many of our crews are in the middle of extended response rotations, including a 32-hour shift, followed by an 8-hour rest period, and then additional 24-hour shifts to keep restoration moving forward around the clock."

According to Troy city officials, the Troy Power Company is currently working to restore power and have responded to several downed trees. 

They stated it was unclear when power will be restored. Bonneville Power and Northern Lights are also responding to several outages that have impacted their power infrastructure.  

Hundreds of customers in Marion, Happy’s Inn were also affected. 

The Lincoln County Health Department offered the following tips for what to do in a power outage situation:

- Stay away from downed power lines;

- Use generators outdoors only and far from buildings;

- Never use grills, camp stoves, or propane heaters indoors;

- Treat intersections without power as four way stops;

- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed;

- Charge phones and backup batteries when possible;

- Check on neighbors, especially those with medical needs

While heavy rain fell at times Tuesday night, it was not the volume seen the week of Dec. 7.

Nevertheless, according to the Lincoln County Flood Information map, bank erosion on Lower Quartz Creek threatened a road washout, but it was still open and drivable Wednesday afternoon.

The Western Montana All-Hazards Management Team, which arrived in Libby, launched a website this week with valuable information.

For non emergency flood related questions in Lincoln County, residents can call the Flood Information call center at 406-293-6295.

Libby remains under a boil water order at this time. Please continue to boil tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth and food preparation unless using bottled water. Updates will be shared as soon as conditions change and the boil water order is lifted.

Bottled water is available for residents who need it and is being distributed at the Red Cross Shelter located at the Memorial Center, 111 E. Lincoln Boulevard in Libby.

Also, the American Red Cross has established a shelter in Libby for displaced residents. The shelter is located at the Memorial Events Center, 111 E. Lincoln Boulevard, Libby. It is staffed daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents in need of shelter should arrive during these hours. Drinking water is also available to residents during regular business hours.

Sandbag locations

Lincoln County is providing sand and sandbags at no cost to the public at the following locations in Libby:

- Pioneer Park

- 190 Wards Road

- Lincoln County Shop, 674 County Shop Road

    A partially uprooted tree remains in the front yard of a home at the corner of East Lincoln Boulevard and Mineral Avenue in Libby Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. A severe windstorm that lasted Dec. 16 and Dec. 17 brought down trees and limbs all over Western Montana, damaging homes, garages and anything in its path. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
  

    A large, fallen fir tree blocks Pipe Creek Road Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, as Libby Volunteer Fire Department members assess the damage. Crews waited for the power to be shut off before the tree could be cut off the road. (Paul Sievers/The Western News)
  

    Fallen trees hang on power lines Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, at the top of Whiskey Hill outside Libby following a massive windstorm. (Brittney Killian/The Western News)
  

    Kilbrennan Lake Road had several trees down across it outside of Troy. (Photo courtesy Eric Storkson)