Thousands of people in western Washington remained without electricity on Sunday, November 8, after strong winds and heavy rain swept through the region overnight.
Seattle City Light said 6,783 customers in King County were still without power at 10am, a significant fall from the roughly 30,000 affected shortly before midnight.
Puget Sound Energy reported a further 7,713 customers without electricity, down from 21,656 during the night. Snohomish County’s outage map showed 449 customers still affected, compared with 9,106 earlier, while Tacoma Public Utilities had reduced its total from 1,802 to just 13.
The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory covering Seattle, Tacoma, the Eastside and surrounding areas, warning of gusts of up to 45 to 50 miles per hour. Forecasters said the strongest winds would ease through Sunday afternoon, although conditions were expected to remain breezy.
Crews work to restore western Washington power
Seattle City Light said about 80 per cent of the customers affected in its service area had already been restored, with additional crews being sent to the remaining sites.
“We are sending additional crews to the remaining outage sites and working to safely restore power as soon as possible,” the utility said.
The largest concentration of Seattle outages was reported around Capitol Hill, between Madison and Republican streets. The utility had been dealing with 143 separate outages across the city at one point on Saturday.
Footage from Dexter Avenue showed fallen trees, power lines, a streetlight and road signs obstructing the street. Outages were also reported in parts of south Seattle, including Burien.
Residents have been warned to stay well clear of fallen power lines and anything touching them, as they may still be live. Seattle City Light advises people to report downed lines immediately and to use torches rather than candles during a power cut.
Utility companies also advise keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed. An unopened fridge can keep food cold for about four hours, while a full freezer can remain cold for roughly 48 hours, depending on conditions.
