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.

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

School officials in Libby cancelled school for the rest of the year and will resume Jan. 5, 2026. Troy Public Schools cancelled classes for Thursday.

Cell phone service was also affected. 

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

For Northern Lights customers, 325 customers were without power in the Troy area, 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.

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 is threatening full road surface washout.

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)