Tree branch knocks out power
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AMY TABORSKY/TribuneMari Negaard, with the Bismarck police department, does what she can to avoid frost bite from 35-mile an hour wind gusts and temperatures in the teens Sunday while directing traffic at the intersection of State Street and Divde Avenue. At 1:15 p.m. the Bismarck police department had been busy for over an hour directing the north and south bound lanes of State Street with the east and west lanes of Divide Avenue blocked. Power to the area, which included the traffic light, had been shut off by MDU after a live wire fell on a tree.
Wind gusts of up to 44 mph brought some colder air to town Sunday, and were also responsible for knocking out the power for a short period of time in north Bismarck.
"High winds brought down a tree limb on a power line," Tim Rasmussen, a spokesman for Montana-Dakota Utilities, said Sunday afternoon. "It started at about 12:15 (p.m.)."
The power was out for about an hour and 10 minutes in a corridor between Divide Avenue and Avenue F. The highest-profile problem was at Divide and State Street, where the stoplights ceased working. Bismarck Police officers stepped in to manually direct traffic until power was restored.
Rasmussen said the power was out between 11th and 13th streets from Divide down to F. It affected about 150 customers, he said.
- Tony Spilde
Posted in Local on Sunday, February 17, 2008 6:00 pm Updated: 2:27 pm.
