A storm system that brought strong winds throughout the region from Sunday night through Tuesday morning caused widespread power outages, toppled trees, forced school closures and even ripped off the roof of a barn in use for the Eastern Idaho State Fair.

The arrival of cold air following record heat a couple of days early contributed to several wind gusts of 55 mph to 65 mph in the Pocatello area, said National Weather Service meteorologist John Keyes. The strongest recorded gust was 77 mph at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Strong gusts continued into Tuesday afternoon. The storm system also deposited a skiff of snow on the mountains surrounding Pocatello.

On Monday evening, amid the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot, the event’s manager Brandon Bird said the community was fortunate that the crowd was considerably smaller than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A strong gust tore off the roof of the beef barn at the fairgrounds, where cattle were in pens for judging, at about 4:30 p.m. Bird said no people or animals were injured.

“One of the blessings that came with fewer people on the grounds last night was when we got the winds it made for nobody getting hurt,” Bird said.

Bird said a race horse barn also sustained damage, and limbs were torn off trees throughout the fairgrounds. He said the damage at the fairgrounds resulted mostly from a short-lived period of strong winds.

“We’ve secured everything out there for now. It will function just fine,” Bird said, adding Tuesday was the final day of the 4H sale.

Due to widespread power outages, the Blackfoot School District canceled classes on Tuesday morning. The Snake River School District also canceled classes Tuesday morning due to the power outages.

The American Falls Police Department issued a warning to the public to use caution while out in the community Tuesday due to the fallen trees and fallen power lines.

“We have power lines and trees down all over the city,” police cautioned. “Do not drive over power lines and remind kids walking not to go close to down lines. Officers and city crews are responding to many calls. Please report any you see and we will get there quickly as possible.”

Idaho Power also issued a statement asking for the public’s patience, noting that the company was continuing to work on hundreds of outages, especially in Eastern Idaho. Crews worked through the night restoring power to thousands of customers and were replaced by fresh crews, according to the press release.

Idaho Power warned the public to assume that downed lines have energy running through them and to avoid them. Customers may report outages by calling 1-800-488-6151. Outages persisted throughout Southeast and Eastern Idaho on Tuesday.

“The sustained winds from last night’s storms caused widespread damage from downed trees and poles,” Dave Spillett, Idaho Power’s regional customer relations manager in Pocatello, said in the press release. “Some of the outages have been large, impacting lots of customers, but many have been smaller outages affecting just a few customers each, mainly due to trees or other objects in power lines.”

Keyes said Burley, Rupert, American Falls, Pocatello, Blackfoot and Idaho Falls all sustained heavy damage from the storm, including fallen trees and power lines and damage to buildings. Keyes, how lives on Pocatello’s east bench, personally had fence damage on his property.

“For a September wind event, this is quite unusual,” Keyes said. “In general we have very few widespread, strong northeast wind events.”