SEATTLE — Power is slowly being restored to tens of thousands of customers who were left in the dark due to strong winds.
Puget Sound Energy reported the majority of outages. Around 5,000 customers were still without power as of 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Seattle City Light is reporting around 420 customers without power. Peninsula Light Company is reporting more than 1,000 customers without power. Tacoma Public Utilities is reporting around 50 customers without power and the Snohomish County PUD is reporting just 86 customers without power.
A Wind Advisory expired Tuesday evening for most of Puget Sound. The region saw wind speeds between 35 to 45 miles per hour with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour.
Downed power lines blocked both the northbound and southbound lanes of state Route 99 in Seattle for hours on Tuesday. The lines were reported down across East Marginal Way near Diagonal Avenue South around 9 a.m. All lanes reopened shortly before 1 p.m.
The threat of an impending cold snap has many Key Peninsula residents praying for electricity restoration.
"We have some people that have been out 24 hours now," said Anne Nesbit, a prevention specialist for Key Peninsula Fire. "Sometimes Mother Nature surprises us."
One mother who lives near Penrose State Park told KING 5 she was grateful to have a working generator.
"That tree that fell today it snapped off right above the stump," said Andrea Sheek, who has a 7-year-old at home. "It's a full tree. It's probably 120 feet tall.”
She had some damage on her property, as that tree fell and took their fence out with it. She said it pulled all the lines down across her driveway, making her unable to use her driveway. Sheek is one of many across Western Washington who is faced with a clean-up job.
She is hoping workers restore her power soon.
"They're actually clearing the first tree that fell this morning. So they should be-- anytime now-- up in front of my driveway," said Sheek.
Luckily, no injuries have been reported at this time, according to Nesbit. But with freezing temps in the forecast, Nesbit said it is important to be mindful to stay safe.
"We knew that winds were happening last night, but I don't think any of us anticipated how hard we'd be hit," said Nesbit.
She is urging people to play it safe by always assuming that a downed power line is live. In other words: keep your distance.
"We really want to urge people to use safety and caution with any line that is down," said Nesbit.
She also urged the public never to run a generator inside.
Another tree, a Douglas Fir, fell on a senior living home in Federal Way. A few other nearby trees also fell but did not damage the home. A neighbor confirmed that seniors and a few caregivers are there at any given time. The tree is believed to have fallen into a bedroom. There are no reports of serious injuries. The residents and the caregivers were moved to a different location after the tree fell.
In Tacoma, firefighters responded to the 4700 block of South 48th Street after a tree fell onto a car, trapping one person inside. Rescue crews had to stabilize the tree and vehicle before removing the occupant of the vehicle, who was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Outages have caused power to also go out at intersections across the Puget Sound area. The Bonney Lake Police Department and Seattle Department of Transportation warned drivers that they may pull up to intersections where traffic signals aren't working and reminded drivers to treat these as four-way stops. KING 5 also spotted multiple intersections in Kirkland without power.
KING 5 was out in the east King County area on Tuesday morning and spotted multiple downed trees and knocked down powerlines. There were also multiple trees down around the city of Seattle, including one near the intersection of James Street and Ninth Avenue that was blocking one lane of the roadway. That tree was cleared just before 5 a.m. The Seattle Department of Transportation also reported two other downed trees blocking roadways, with one at Northwest 80th Street and 14th Avenue Northwest in Crown Hill and another reported at Marine View Drive Southwest and Southwest 104th Street in West Seattle.
Power Outages
If you have a generator, keep in mind that without a fuel stabilizer, your gasoline could go bad after a couple of months, and old fuel could lead to it overheating. For this reason, it is best to get the gas you need now, in case your power goes out.