Wild weather causes outages around the county

Monday's blustery weather met power lines in a head-to-head match.

Numerous outages occurred throughout the day, but most customers in PUD1 had power back by the afternoon, according to General Manager Kristin Masteller.

"These were all small tree and limb related outages due to the high winds today. All relatively quick fixes," she told the Journal in an email.

Crews made repairs from Brinnon to Union, she said, logging driving hours between Bee Mill, Finch Creek, Galloway/Point Whitney and Duckabush south.

PUD3's outages affected over 1,000 customers during the day, with most problems occurring between noon and 4 p.m., when area wind gusts clocked in at 47 mph, according to Public Information Officer Sheila Corson.

About 400 customers in the Lake Cushman area lost power, she told the Journal.

Power loss was largely due to wind and rain knocking down trees and breaking power lines. Restoration on those calls goes a lot quicker than when a utility pole itself falls, Corson said.

PUD3 crews responded to outages on Cloquallum Road, Walker Park Road, West Hurley Waldrip Roadand state Route 108, Daniels Road and Pickering Road.

Winds were dying down in the later afternoon.

"We're hoping it's calming down," Corson said Monday around 5 p.m.