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Heavy snow brings down limbs, power lines in Butte

Posted at 10:33 AM, Jun 09, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-09 12:33:09-04

BUTTE — Snow fell wet and heavy in Butte Monday, causing damage and some power outages.

“It’s just crazy spring weather in Butte, Montana. We got trees down everywhere, power lines down everywhere,” said Butte Police Officer Tim Schmidt.

The accumulated snow was heavy enough to snap a tree limb that fell on some vehicles parked on Alabama Street.

“The snow was too heavy and took down quite a few limbs on the trees and, as you can see, this limb out in the street,” said Butte resident Ben Hursh.

No major damage has been reported from falling power lines and tree limbs, but the mess required plenty of clean-up throughout the day.

“We called Public Works and they explained that’s not their issue to solve, that the homeowner needs to take care of it, so I’m waiting on a crew of guys to come clean it up,” said Hursh.

And on Gladstone Avenue, a police officer was blocking off part of the street to keep traffic from going through because the heavy snow caused a main power line to come down into the street.

“Everybody’s out running around doing the best we can to keep everybody safe in the community and closing these streets off so nobody gets injured,” said Schmidt.

Due to all the downed tree limbs, Butte has opened up some temporary tree limb disposal sites at the Butte Civic Center and the empty lot at the corner of Platinum Street and Excelsior Avenue.