Strong winds and rain on Saturday evening resulted in damage to power lines and transformers, leaving almost 150,000 residents without electricity overnight into Sunday. In response, Puget Sound Energy activated its Emergency Coordination Center to streamline recovery efforts throughout Sunday. By the evening, over 96,000 customers were still without power in the Puget Sound area, with numbers fluctuating as crews worked to stay ahead of the storm conditions affecting western Washington.
By 10 p.m. Saturday, approximately 148,000 customers had lost power. Puget Sound Energy is continuously updating their outage map. A statement on their website noted that helicopters were dispatched to inspect damage to transmission lines in Pierce and Thurston counties as part of their emergency response.
“The most significant damage occurred in Pierce and Thurston counties. High winds and falling trees not only took down local power lines but also affected larger transmission lines that supply electricity to communities,” part of their statement read. “Repairing transmission lines is essential before crews can focus on restoring power to local neighborhoods.”
Currently, the area between Mt. Vernon and Bellingham has only a few outages reported, while Kitsap County has around 65. Seattle has about 250 outages, and the southern regions, including Tacoma and Olympia, are experiencing roughly 350 outages. Tragically, a tree fell on attendees during a community Trick-or-Treat event just outside Roy, resulting in one fatality and several injuries.
Although this event is not classified as a major storm, increasing winds, mountain snowfall, and ongoing rain could lead to issues such as localized flooding from blocked storm drains, a typical concern during this season as many trees shed their leaves. Gusts of wind in the Puget Sound area are expected to reach 35 to 45 mph over the weekend, with Tacoma, Mukilteo, and Olympia potentially facing gusts up to 50 mph.
