Biden approves disaster declaration to aid cleanup following Missoula windstorm

The homeowner said the man with the chainsaw is a volunteer who just showed up to help after the windstorm in Missoula blew down trees and power lines. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

President Joe Biden on Friday approved Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s request for a major disaster declaration that followed the straight-line wind event on July 24 that caused damage across Missoula and left many without power for several days.

The president’s major disaster declaration for Missoula and Powell counties allows the state, tribes, local government and some nonprofits to access federal cost-share Public Assistance funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair or replace buildings damaged in the storm that evening.

The feds would foot 75% of the cleanup and repair costs for damaged buildings, trees and infrastructure, while the local governments would cover the remaining 25%.

“We will continue to come alongside our communities as they respond and recover from the major windstorm,” Gianforte said in a statement.

Thunderstorms and near-hurricane-force winds blew through the two counties, causing damage and downed trees and power lines across the city of Missoula and both counties. Gusts of 81 miles per hour were measured at the Missoula Airport and a gust of 109 miles per hour was measured atop Mount Sentinel. More than 70,000 people were without power in the immediate aftermath.

Emergency crews spent most of the next day urging Missoulians not to drive around town because trees and power lines were down across the city, and they spent several more days cleaning up. Downed power lines across the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers closed portions of both. Some residents were without power for a week.

Gianforte declared a disaster on July 26 allowing Montana to use General Fund money to help the cleanup and recovery, then visited Missoula on Aug. 1 for a briefing at the Emergency Operations Center.

“The incredible amount of support and people coming together in order to be at a point where we are is really exceptional – from the professionals to the community members who have stepped up in amazing ways,” Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis said at the time.

Adriane Beck, the director of the Missoula County Office of Emergency Management, said in an interview Friday afternoon that FEMA officials came to Missoula to meet with city and county officials and to verify damage assessments ahead of a disaster request that would be forthcoming from the governor.

Gianforte on Aug. 14, within 24 hours of that meeting in Missoula, wrote to Biden asking him to declare a major disaster for the two counties in the wake of the storm, telling the president that the initial damage assessment totaled $3.7 million in estimated damages. Beck said Friday that estimate remains accurate but could grow.

“The damages this event incurred to trees and electrical systems are extensive, putting a financial burden on the communities and electrical co-ops,” Gianforte wrote at the time. “We fully expect this damage estimate to increase as the recovery process moves forward due to unquantified damages incurred to the University of Montana’s research facilities and fluctuations in debris estimates as drop off piles continue to grow daily.”

Beck said Friday that typically those requests are not processed for at least 30 days, so she said the quick turnaround was a “welcome timeline.”

A month after the storm, Beck said the cleanup efforts were moving well overall, but officials want to be methodical in assessing all of the damage, including some trees that could still fall because they were damaged in the storm. Debris-wise, the city and county are largely done clearing rights-of-way and sidewalks and has it at staging areas that contractors will start processing in the next week or two, Beck said.

“We’re grateful to have the federal assistance so that the cost of this recovery and the cost of dealing with the aftermath of this storm is not borne solely by Missoula city and county residents, and we do have that federal assistance,” she said.

This is the second major disaster declaration Biden has agreed to for Montana this year. The first was granted mid-July for 10 counties and two reservations in central Montana affected by a winter storm and flooding in early May.