MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — Some Mercer Island residents remain in a shelter-in-place order due to hazardous road conditions in the wake of a bomb cyclone that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people in western Washington on Tuesday night.
The City of Mercer Island notified residents Wednesday afternoon that people living along the 4200 to 4600 blocks of East Mercer Way and between the 7400 to 7800 blocks of Island Crest Way should stay home and shelter in place.
The shelter in place order for East Mercer Way has been lifted.
City officials said it's unsafe to walk, bike, or drive these roads because of downed power lines, hazardous trees and dangerous debris blocking the roadway. A CodeRed emergency alert with the message was sent to affected residents.
Residents who are away should not return to these neighborhoods until city officials share an update to end the shelter-in-place emergency. The affected residents should not leave their homes unless it is a life-threatening emergency, according to the city.
Officials reminded the public to:
- Never approach downed power lines, don’t drive over downed power lines, and never use outdoor gas appliances indoors.
- Many roads remain closed. Do not drive around barricades. It is unsafe to walk, bike, or recreate in closed roads or areas.
- Island residents should avoid area parks and open spaces due to unknown hazards in these areas.
- Treat all intersections without power as four-way stops. Come to a complete stop, then proceed slowly when it is your turn.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) anticipates outages may last several days. PSE crews are working to restore electricity across the island. Estimated restoration times are available through PSE's outage map. A PSE spokesperson said restoration times were conservative.
PSE, which has the most customers without power at over 235,000, released estimated restoration times by county Thursday morning. Most of King County is expected to be restored by Saturday at noon.
A lot of the damage was to the transmission system, a PSE spokesperson said. Crews will bring transmission lines back online Thursday, which needs to happen before crews can attend to the local distribution system.
Hardest hit areas include east King County, such as Issaquah, and south King County, including Ravensdale and Enumclaw, according to PSE.