Blowdown tree kills angler on Bitterroot River

FISHING — A 62-year-old western Montana man was struck and killed by a falling tree while fishing on the Bitterroot River on Sunday.

Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman says high winds moved through the southern Bitterroot Valley and officers received reports of trees down across U.S. Highway 93 south of Conner, according to an Associated Press report.

Members of the Sula Fire Department were working to clear the trees when they heard dogs barking down by the river. Hoffman says when they investigated they found Michael Kenneth Bell of Conner pinned under a tree that had been knocked over by the wind.

Bell died at the scene.

The downed trees blocked traffic on the highway for more than an hour.