Red Rock Power Inc.

| Glacier 2002 Storm Pictures | | Hysham 2007 Storm Pictures |

| Ekalaka "MAY DAY" 2008 Storm Pictures |

The leader in the power & telecommunication services industry.

STAGE 1 - Snow & Ice
A spring storm happens in stages. First, it drops heavy wet snow all over the area. In this storm, the snow was so heavy, it snapped large trees and power poles like they were nothing and left the forest floor covered with limbs. Next, it freezes the wet snow and creates heavy ice. Ice raises havoc on all structures, especially power lines and their supporting poles and structures. There is a picture below that shows ice rolls that have fallen off of a power line. When this happens, the lines spring back up in the air and begin bucking. This is when the cross arms of the structures begin to snap like they were nothing. Since all the lines are tied to the insulators on the cross arms, they begin to tear each other down like dominos. Wind will come along and further begin dropping the ice off of the structures and the lines. The East / West lines took most of the damage since the storm came out of the North. It was plainly evident that there was what we call side-ways snow and blizzarding going on in this particular storm. There are a couple of buildings that show this evidence with drifts on the North facing walls.
STAGE 2 - Baking in the Humid Sun
Once the blizzard is done, it usually gets so bright out that there is a huge sun burn factor going on with the ice sheen off of the snow cover. You're freezing one day and baking the next. Once the snow and ice damage is over, the white begins to go away and spills moisture all over the land. Flooding occurs and muddy conditions exist all over the land. This is what makes getting around repairing power lines very difficult and challenging but it will be done. If you wonder why your pole piles are a bit farther than you'd like, the pole trucks can't go where it's too muddy. Finally, it rains on top of the moisture you already have all over the place. Days upon days of steady rain to keep the water running all over the place and of course, making more mud to go play in. After a while, the sun comes out and makes for very humid conditions. The moisture never seems to go away completely.
STAGE 3 - Water & Mud Everywhere
Did I say mud? Ekalaka residents know it's not just mud... it's GUMBO. Gumbo is not mud - it's GLUE when it's wet. As a matter of fact, the right consistency of gumbo makes for huge tires because it keeps sticking to itself. If you get stuck in gumbo, don't keep spinning your tires because you're going to make it worse and you'll sink even deeper. There is a couple of pictures of a "cat hole" where we got our track digger stuck and we kept spinning the tracks. Any deeper and it would still be there.

There is some equipment that is FUN to work with in the mud...

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