Threatening amounts of rain and snow cause flooding damage to Basin Electric members

In mid-June, flooding in major waterways including the Yellowstone River caused damage to several Basin Electric members in Montana and Wyoming.

Basin Electric Class D member Flathead Electric Cooperative, based in Kalispell, Montana, experienced severe impacts in Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana. After days of heavy rain and rapidly melting snow caused flooding and power loss, backup crews were called in to help with damages and get power back as quickly as possible. Some members in the Cooke City area did not have power for five days.

Cooke City, Montana, saw the most damage June 12-14. Three poles washed away, and seven new ones now stand in their place.

“Creeks were turning into rivers, so poles were falling into them,” said Courtney Stone, Flathead Electric public affairs specialist. “We typically have a one-man show in Cooke City when it comes to lineworkers, but we had to call in backup crews from Kalispell.”

The team spent four days navigating floodwaters, setting new poles and lines, and getting the lights back on for the co-op’s southern Montana members. There is still some clean-up work to be done.

Basin Electric Class C member Park Electric Cooperative, located in Livingston, Montana, had various outages across their system due to the flooding from the Yellowstone River. The cooperative is located over a mile away from the river, so the flooding was unexpected.

The water levels in the river were already high for the season, but a mix of rain and snow equaling eight to 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period is what pushed the flooding overboard to the loss of bridges and power lines. Eight to 10 lines that ran across the river were lost and many poles ended up in a new channel created by the river which grew by roughly five times the size during the flooding.

Park Electric’s headquarters experienced the most damage of any part of its system. The material yards were flooded with up to three feet of water. The building itself took on about a foot of water with the doors kept open to keep the water flowing out. This resulted in the loss of carpet, wood flooring, and cabinets in the building. The phone system was lost, the radio system used by the lineworkers went down, and all of their servers were down, including the billing system and map systems. They had no way for their members to contact them about potential outages. Basin Electric’s Security and Response Services was able to take on all incoming calls to Park Electric through their lines while they worked to get their phone lines back for over a week.

Assistance from surrounding co-ops as well as Basin Electric was the key to getting the systems back up and running for this small cooperative. “This is an area where a cooperative model truly helps out and it is an example of the cooperative principle, cooperation among cooperatives,” said Park Electric CEO Matt Haggerty. “In a time of need it really shows how the co-op system works.”