Heavy rainfall forecast, flooding possible

The National Weather Service put out an advisory Wednesday predicting heavy rain in Western Montana Thursday through Saturday.

A warm and moist air mass will be streaming into the Northern Rockies, bringing up to 2 inches of rain to valleys and more than 12 inches of snow to mountain ranges, the advisory states.

“The rainfall will cause widespread small stream ... rises with some potentially going to flood stage,” it states. “A few quick reacting main stem rivers will also see significant rises from this system.”

Mud or rock slides and ponding waters are possible during and after the weather event.

Some harsh weather descended on the Flathead Valley Wednesday afternoon, with wind and rain causing power outages and other problems.

According to the Flathead Electric Cooperative’s website, Wednesday’s foul weather caused a total of 11 outages in the Flathead Valley, initially affecting 3,731 customers mostly in the Whitefish area.

“Just a fast storm moved in here, disrupting service,” said Wendy Ostrom-Price, coop spokeswoman. “It was all weather-related, trees on lines.”

She said the main outage in the Whitefish area was caused by a tree falling on a powerline between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

By shortly after 4 p.m., there were 4,779 customers were without power, partly because other powerlines had to be de-energized in order to safely repair damaged lines. Power to most customers was restored by 4:30 p.m.