Last Wednesday, Missoula suffered a truly historic storm. Winds gusting up to around 100 mph tore through the valley and snapped trees like toothpicks or uprooted them entirely, bringing down power lines and leaving frazzled Missoulians—many of whom were without power for days—to pick up the pieces. The city has so far counted more than 600 fallen trees in the public right of way alone. Thankfully, according to Nick Holloway, Missoula County’s project coordinator for disaster and emergency management, no one has been reported killed or injured.
In the aftermath of the storm, The Pulp reached out to Missoulians to find some unexpected, bizarre and even funny stories. Despite the wide range of experiences shared with us, one theme rang true: Nearly every person interviewed for this piece expressed gratitude for the community and the kindness with which it responded. Because even though these stories are great, “the greatest story,” as Holloway put it, “is neighbors helping neighbors.”
Camp calamity
Around 30 high schoolers from across Montana and surrounding states jammed into the journalism building at the University of Montana for summer camp last week. On that fateful Wednesday, every kid had made their way back to the dorm with counselors, except for two who stayed behind to finish some work with a couple counselors. But hard work didn’t pay off this time. They climbed into the elevator to go downstairs right as the storm hit. The university got smacked by the strong winds and the entire campus lost power. The J-school’s alarms blared as the lights went out. And the two kids in the elevator? They got stuck … in the dark … between floors. But no fear, the two counselors in their early 20s—one of whom was me—and a fretting mother got this handled, right? After about an hour, and nearly 10 frustrated calls to emergency services that didn’t go through, the university’s police department called in firefighters who were able to pry open the doors and get the kids out unscathed. Sometimes you write the news, sometimes you become the news, I guess.
Missing mammals
Storm tragedies included more than destroyed homes and vehicles. Many people on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit reported missing cats and dogs that had gotten scared and bolted. They included a small Siamese cat missing a tail named Pepper and a fat gray cat named Gus. At the time of writing this, neither have been found. So please keep an eye out for lost furry friends.
It’s a bird! No, a plane! No, a… trampoline?
A woman and her son were sitting on the second floor of their home when the trees in their yard started bending like rubber. So they headed downstairs to get as far away from windows as possible. The woman, Kendra Potter, called out to her husband to see if he was home. He responded that he was indeed home and had just watched a trampoline land in their yard. The strong winds delivered it there “like it was Dorothy’s house,” Potter said. Not knowing who owned the identified flying object, Potter started asking around. Unbeknownst to her, nearby neighbors had put up a trampoline a few days earlier. Potter tried to move it but because it was wedged into their fence at a strange angle she only succeeded in breaking the fence. However, with a little help she was eventually able to return the jumping machine to the yard from which it came.
Floating fiasco
July in Missoula means floating the Clark Fork to cool off. But for one group of inner-tubers there was nothing chill about their float last Wednesday night. As the group of around 8 or 9 rounded the bend near the Albertsons on East Broadway, they noticed a giant cloud. Then, they noticed the lighting. Then, they noticed they needed to get the hell out of there. Cutting their river adventure short, they parked their tubes on Jacob’s Island Dog Park and quickly deflated them. The the wind hit—hard. The group began to move, with a bit of panic and a lot of haste, toward the University of Montana via the small footbridge off the island. As they walked, sand kicked up into their eyes and tree branches flew past.
One of the floaters, Drew Hayes, had brought along his dog, who loves to play fetch. Amid the chaos at the dog park, she dug up a ball and tried to coax him to throw it. “I was like, ‘This is not the time!’” Hayes said. When they got to the Van Buren St. footbridge, a fallen power line lay across it. Still, all of them barefoot and in swimsuits, they decided to book it across the metal bridge. Thankfully, the group made it home safely, although they, like many others in Missoula, were all without power.
Hopefully these floaters did, too: 😬
The next day, Missoula County warned that downed power lines could be electrifying waterways, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks issued emergency closures for stretches of the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers.
Super wind vs. Supermom
Catherine Lea was nursing her two-week-old baby upstairs last Wednesday when the storm hit. Lea had found that sitting in a very specific spot, in a specific chair, was one of the only ways to get her newborn to calm down and latch so Lea could feed her. But when the push notification about the storm came through and the winds began to whip, she knew she needed to get downstairs. So, while still breastfeeding, she deftly flew down the stairs and into the basement—a “crash course in nursing on the move.” While in the basement, a giant ponderosa pine fell into a nearby power line and they lost electricity. Lea said her baby didn’t detach, stir or cry the entire time, though “caring for a newborn by camp lantern was definitely a new experience.”
All roads lead to trees
Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick and his wife Kim Murchison drove back to Missoula last Wednesday after an 18-mile hike in Glacier National Park earlier that day, and their backroads route home had them nearing Big Flat Road when the weather turned wild. Rain crashed down in sheets and lightning lit up the sky. Shortly after turning onto Big Flat, they, along with two other cars, came upon a giant tree that had fallen across the road. The three vehicles stopped and turned around to go back the other way. But not far in the opposite direction another tree had just fallen, also blocking the road. They were trapped.
Slotnick and Murchison stood outside in the rain, along with a woman from one of the other vehicles, trying to assess the situation. She had some rope, he had a carabiner—maybe they could make something work. “I’m a vegetable farmer so I’m used to this type of problem-solving,” Slotnick said. But before they could scheme something, another woman yelled that they all needed to get the eff out there immediately, as trees all around crashed down.
The caravan made its way to a driveway by a large hayfield, safe from falling wreckage. They waited out the storm for around 45 minutes, wondering how they were going to deal with the trees and get home safely. No one had cell phone reception so they couldn’t call for help. They didn’t have a big truck, nor chains, so moving the trees themselves wasn’t an option.
But as the storm subsided and the cars made their way back to the main road, they saw headlamps along the road bobbing in the dark. Out of nowhere, surrounding neighbors came to their aid, armed with lights, chainsaws and hope.
There was little discussion, Slotnick said. Everyone got right to work. A few minutes later, a pathway had been cleared among the fallen trees and debris large enough for a lane of traffic to get through. “To see a group of people cooperate in such an uncomplicated way was amazing,” Slotnick said. “I work in government so I know how rare [that] can be.”
