Less than 50K without power in Western Washington
Nov 17, 2015, 11:40 PM | Updated: May 13, 2016, 10:34 pm
Crews continue to make headway on the widespread outages that left thousands without power in Western Washington.
Puget Sound Energy reports there are 11,945 customers without power. Snohomish County PUD says 31,100 customers remain without power.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency Wednesday evening in the wake of wind and rain storms that have knocked down trees and flooded area rivers.
Inslee’s declaration is for all counties in Washington, and states that the region has suffered flooding and other damage as a result of the heavy winds and rain. It also notes that erosion, landslides, and flooding from the storms have been exacerbated in some areas because of the wildfire damage leftover from the summer.
As utility crews continue to repair downed power lines, some Western Washington residents remain without power, and could have the lights out for a few more days.
Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Ray Lane says customers not linked to larger outages may be in the dark longer than those in more populated areas.
More than 230,000 customers were without power across Western Washington Wednesday morning. More than 300,000 were left in the dark when the storm struck on Tuesday.
Schools around the region closed or were delayed Wednesday due to the outages, including several districts in Snohomish County.
Lane says there are “quite a few” transmission lines down. Even one of those can impact a large number of people, he explained.
The hardest hit areas are Kitsap County, North King County and Whidbey Island.
Puget Sound Energy’s priority has been getting power back to as many people as possible. That means people impacted by more isolated outages could be without power for a little longer than most.
One man in Western Washington died Tuesday during the windstorm when a tree fell on his vehicle in Monroe. Two women in Eastern Washington died as well, both from falling trees.
Another man was taken to the hospital after touching an electrified fence in Sultan, according to The Seattle Times. Wind knocked a power line onto the fence nearby.
A Metro bus driver was injured after a tree toppled onto the bus, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Check for power outages:
Seattle City Light Outage Map
Puget Sound Energy Outage Map
Snohomish PUD
Tacoma Public Utilities
Flooding
A Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday morning for Lewis and Thurston Counties in west central Washington.
The National Weather Service reports more than 6.50 inches of rainfall at Sea-Tac Airport through Nov. 15, which is a typical total for the entire month of November.
