Up To 900 People Without Power On Rocky Boy's Following Winter Storm

As many as 900 people are without power on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation following a winter storm Tuesday.

Water Resources director Dustin White says crews are working on the outage, but he doesn’t know when power will be returned.

“We do got reports of a number of power poles knocked over, there’s tree branches down, there’s trees knocked over in the mountains, so right now we don’t know what’s causing the power outage,” he says.

The Chippewa-Cree tribe declared a state of emergency following a snowstorm that dumped up to three feet of snow on the reservation.

“The snow levels we got here, it’s basically inoperable. You can’t drive a vehicle. I just tried driving up to my office and I made it about a mile and a half up the road and had to get turned around.  You can’t even drive on the main highway right now,” he says.

The tribe is asking members to stay put and only travel for emergency reasons. They’re also seeking assistance with snow removal, and help checking on elders and the disabled.