Nearly 80 mile-per-hour winds swept through Billings on Wednesday, leaving holiday decor enthusiasts scrambling to repair their festive displays just days before Christmas.See holiday decoration displays from the Bolt Christmas House and ZooMontana below: Billings Christmas light connoisseurs picking up debris after severe wind stormMark Bolt, who has been decorating his Billings Heights home with an elaborate 82,000-light display since 2001, spent all of Thursday afternoon cleaning up wind damage after his beloved joy sign, nativity scene and string lights became victim to the strong winds."Wednesday was stressful," Bolt said. "We knew it was coming, so we tried to prepare."Despite his preparations, Bolt's display fell victim to the powerful gusts around 3 p.m. Wednesday, when winds reached 79 miles-per-hour at the Billings airport."There's a few strings of lights that kind of got overstretched and ripped apart... But, we were pretty fortunate," Bolt said. The cleanup took Bolt from noon on Thursday until 6:30 p.m. that evening. He told MTN that he was determined to get his display back up and running for visitors. The display will be up until Jan. 1."I know we certainly were not the only people, Christmas light people, impacted by this," he said.ZooMontana also felt the impact of Wednesday's windstorm. Luke Ashmore, who was only in his second day as a brand manager for the zoo, said administration had to close the facility Thursday so staff could repair the Holiday Nights display."It has been a very interesting week to start... On the bright side... It just knocked some of the light fixtures over. There were a few pieces that may have been a bit more damaged," Ashmore told MTN. The zoo reopened after repairs on Friday, and Ashmore said the experience brought the ZooMontana team together during what could have been a worrying situation.According to KTVQ meteorologist Jason Stiff, severe windstorms, such as Wednesday's, are uncommon in the Billings area, but more common near Livingston due to the mountainous geography. Stiff said the unusual weather pattern was caused by the jet stream's positioning."When you have a pattern with the jet stream overhead, you have big pressure differences from one side of the mountains to the other, and that lingers," said Stiff. "That can give us almost all-day wind." Despite the setback, both the Bolt Christmas House and ZooMontana are back to spreading holiday cheer. ZooMontana's Holiday Nights runs through New Year's Eve.With milder weather expected for Christmas, these holiday light displays will hopefully be able to shine through the rest of the season without further severe wind-related interruptions."It was a very worthwhile learning experience," said Ashmore."We should be 100% functional here in a few hours," Bolt told MTN around noon on Saturday.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less