LIBBY — This past week has been incredibly destructive for Lincoln County. A week ago Thursday, severe flooding hit the area, washing out roads and bridges.
Last week's high waters turned into this week's high winds, once again leaving residents rattled.
“They are tall, they are over 100 feet, and you can see the diameter of them,” said Libby resident Shane Sichting.
Three red fir trees fell on top of garages on Sichting’s property off main street in Libby during Wednesday’s windstorm.
“I got here a few minutes after they were on the ground; you couldn’t get down the alleys or anything and of course we had a few guys helping out,” added Sichting.
Thankfully Sichting said nobody was injured and friends and family are helping repair the damage.
“Just finishing up getting the rest of the tree off the garage and cleaning up the rest of the mess and well start putting stuff back together.”
Watch MTN Sean Well's report here:
Sichting is just one resident in Lincoln County who is cleaning up after a week of severe weather from high waters to high winds.
Crews are working hard to save the Ross Creek Cedars Bridge on the south end of Bull Lake after the structure was compromised due to a landslide bringing an overflow of sediments into the creek bed.
Around 30 homes were ordered to evacuate or stay in place on the west side and south end of Bull Lake as emergency mitigation work continues on Ross Creek Cedar Bridge.
“The stability of the bridge is questionable right now,” said Western Montana All Hazards Incident Command Team Public Information Officer Nick Holloway.
Holloway said crews are working hard to restore power to all Lincoln County residents after Wednesday’s windstorm although work is slower than normal.
“Pull up a pole it’s not stable and so in wet ground it can move around a lot, and they need the stability of solid ground to replace the poles or repair the poles,” said Holloway.
Holloway said the boil water advisory for the town of Libby will remain in place for another day or two as testing continues for heavy metals in the water supply.
"There’s water testing out and we anticipate getting the results from that water test hopefully back today, maybe tomorrow, but we don’t know when exactly they are going to be back," said Holloway.
Due to storm damage, Libby Schools are canceled for the rest of the year. Students will return on January 5.
Lincoln County residents are asked to haul storm generated debris to the Lincoln County Landfill located at 2501 Pipe Creek Road in Libby. They ask residents to not place debris in roadways or along streets, as crews are not available to collect it. Keeping roads clear helps maintain access for emergency and recovery operations. In the meantime, a debris management plan is currently being developed, and additional information will be shared as it becomes available.
On Thursday Lincoln County Health Department posted on Facebook that the Montana DEQ received and reviewed the Libby water sample test results for inorganics (heavy metals). The test did not detect any contaminants of concern in the municipal water system that would require a do not consume advisory.
