Car crash knocks out power in Whitefish

A power outage in Whitefish on Thursday morning affected approximately 2,000 Flathead Electric Coop members.
According to Flathead Electric spokesperson Courtney Stone, the outage occurred after a vehicle collided with a power pole. She said a full pole replacement would be necessary to restore power.
“It’s going to take some time to fix,” Stone said in a noon interview.
The outage occurred at 10:28 a.m., and included areas south of downtown along U.S. 93 South. River Lakes Parkway, the Montana 40 and U.S. 93 intersection, and Blanchard Lake areas were all affected.
People were advised to use caution in the outage area.
The coop’s outage map will provide updates online at https://outage.flathead.coop:8181/