MCCALL, Idaho — Valley County experienced significant damage as trees fell all over the county after a devastating wind storm that occurred late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
"Our dog started acting up around ten o’clock last night. In McCall, we don’t normally get wind, but you could just hear it howling all night long," said Kyle Maschek of Camp Pinewood. "This tree landed on the lodge and smashed our camp van."
Check out the video to see the damage and the community coming together after the storm
Camp Pinewood is a youth camp and Christian conference center owned by ten different churches in the region. The camp had multiple trees fall on multiple buildings as the wind snapped mature trees like they were toothpicks.
Camp Pinewood has since contacted its insurance company. Today, they removed the tree from the lodge, and they are assessing the damage and the structural integrity of the building. Maschek told me it's possible the damage could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he's thankful nobody was staying at the camp when the storm hit.
"It is easier to fix buildings than it is to fix people," said Maschek. "All of our staff is in good shape, and now we just need to fix the buildings."
People all over Valley County were cleaning up on Wednesday and Thursday as the Leisure Time RV Park in Cascade sustained significant damage with trees falling on homes and RVs.
Residents and contractors faced downed trees driving in and out of Yellow Pine, cutting as they went until two convoys finally met in the middle, and Brundage Mountain Resort estimated 100 trees fell on the mountain.
"Last night’s weather event was a bit challenging," said Ken Rider, the general manager at Brundage. "Our slope maintenance crew is out cutting those trees and getting them out of the way, so when the snow does come, we can get groomers on the mountain without those trees slowing us down."
However, snow in the forecast will create additional challenges for the people who had trees fall on their roofs, damage their buildings, and other structures. Camp Pinewood is in the process of building a gym, and they don't know if a youth camp will be able to visit in three weeks because of the damage.
"Unfortunately, we do have seven days of rain and snow, so it is going to be touch and go," said Maschek. "Hopefully, we can prevent internal damage inside the buildings; that is the goal."
Idaho Power and the utility companies also have their hands full restoring power and repairing broken cables. I was impressed by how quickly downed trees were moved off the main roads, and it was nice to see neighbors helping neighbors in Valley County.
