Thousands remain without power four days after deadly Northwest windstorm
Aug 29, 2015, 9:49 PM | Updated: May 15, 2016, 9:53 pm
An entire tree toppled over onto 26th and Pearl Street in Tacoma on Saturday. No injuries were reported. (Dori Monson Show listener)
(Dori Monson Show listener)
Outage maps/details:
Puget Sound Energy
Seattle City Light
Snohomish County PUD
Tacoma Public Utilities
Nearly four days after a massive windstorm struck the Puget Sound region, more than 25,000 homes in the area remain without power.
Seattle City Light had the number of outages in the city down to 35 on Tuesday.
The Snohomish Public Utility District reported Tuesday afternoon that it still had 18,500 customers without power.
And Puget Sound Energy had 8,000 customers without power throughout the region. The outages are caused by 500 different damage sites that crews are addressing one after the other. The utility notes that those 500 sites are spread over hundreds of square miles.
Puget Sound Energy told customers that as crews repair lines they are finding further, unreported damage that needs to be addressed. This is pushing back repair time estimates.
Crews working to restore power have been taxed by the storm’s breadth. It tore trees out of the ground across a vast area of the Pacific Northwest, stretching manpower and equipment thin.
The storm also caused two deaths. A Gig Harbor man died after a tree fell onto his car while driving home from the store. He has been identified as 36-year-old James Fay. His 3-year-old daughter was in the backseat of the vehicle, but was unharmed, KING 5 reports.
Samara Iereneo, 10, of Burien died after a branch fell on her while playing outside at a friend’s home. Adults at the scene attempted CPR, as well as emergency crews, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The National Weather Service reported 20 to 35 mph winds, with gusts of 50 mph. One weather station in Hoquiam clocked a gust of 63 mph.
Late August is unusually early for such a powerful storm, meteorologists said. Trees, already stressed by dry conditions, still have their leaves, which makes them more likely to fall when strong winds blow.
The storm also set a rainfall record for that date at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It dumped 1.28 inches in a 24-hour period. The previous record for that day was .87 inches in 1983.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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