Sidney Herald

In light of the widespread storm damage across the Hi-line, which resulted from last Wednesday's fierce wind storm, Gov. Brian Schweitzer visited Culbertson to tour the damaged sites late Monday on his way back to Helena from the National Governors Association meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.

The storm caused an estimated $5-6 million in damage, according to the National Weather Service, Glasgow. The town was declared in a state of emergency Thursday morning, but has not yet been declared a disaster since there was no infrastructure damage in the town.

The State and Disaster and Emergency Services personnel are reviewing whether areas may qualify for a federal disaster declaration, according to the governor's office.

Area officials showed Schweitzer the damage throughout the town, including two sites where homes were completely destroyed, the extensive tree loss, and the damage to the school's football facility.

As the group toured the scars left from the storm, Schweitzer was impressed with the story of Culbertson and surrounding communities coming together to aid their neighbors in the wake of a disaster.

"The way that everyone has reached out to help each other here is a true example of the rural Montana community spirit in action," Schweitzer said to Roosevelt County commissioners Monday.

Paul Finnicum, Culbertson city council member, said, "There were people from 5 years old to 85 years old helping pick up the branches and tree limbs from the roads Thursday morning. Everyone who could came out to help."

Officials estimated that 65-70 percent of the roads in Culbertson were blocked with debris ,and every block in the town suffered tree damage.

"It was amazing. It looked like a bomb had been dropped on the town, and the next morning it looked like an ant hill. The people were all out busily helping. We had people from other towns here, including Sidney, helping us clean up," Gary McDonald, county commissioner said.

The bow-echo stormblasted the town with straight-line winds between 86-113 mph for 15 minutes last Wednesday night, causing extensive damage.

"At the site of the Savely house that was destroyed Wednesday night, there was a crowd of people there helping them in the morning, and by noon they were moved into a new house," Finnicum said.

The tree loss was devastating to Culbertson, which has a huge and still growing pile of lumber behind the football stadium.

"We've got plenty of wood for our homecoming bonfire. Any other schools that need bonfire wood should contact us," McDonald said jokingly as the group marveled at the lumber pile.

"The tree loss is really devastating. We lost a lot of old trees that have been here since the town was established. It's really sad because there is a lot of public labor in those trees," Finnicum said.

At the school's football facility, the crow's nest was damaged, the public address system was lost, the fence was flattened, the scoreboard was destroyed, and trees were lost.

"We will have it all ready for the first football game," McDonald said. "Blue Rock in Sidney donated a new scoreboard to us. We already have it and are just waiting to put it up. The communities around us have really stepped up, and we appreciate it a lot."

According to county officials, 14 rail cars were ripped from the tracks, ending up in the ditch in Brockton. One farmer lost an entire pivot system, and a 65,000 bushel grain bin was "crushed like a pop can."

"This is something that isn't normal here, even the older folks haven't ever seen anything like this here. We get 60 mile per hour winds sometimes in storms, but not 100-plus mile per hour like we did in this storm," Finnicum said.

Schweitzer assured the officials he would stay in touch and work closely with the Department of Natural Resources on the disaster. As he left Culbertson for Helena, Schweitzer asked his pilot to fly low across the area in between Culbertson and Brockton to get an aerial view of the damage.

"There's a lot of damage to the outlying farms and ranches across the area," McDonald said.

ellenr@sidneyeherald.com