At one point, 40,000 Seattle City Light customers had lost power; the utility is working to restore service.
Strong winds downed trees and utility poles, whipped up the Puget Sound area and cut power to more than 300,000 homes and businesses as a fast-moving storm blew through Western Washington on Thursday. No serious injuries were reported.
Cities from Tacoma to Bellingham were under a wind warning through 7 p.m. Thursday night.
Winds in Seattle ramped up around noon and reached 53 mph, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jay Albrecht. However, some areas of the city were likely hit harder, as wind speeds are variable around the region due to geography, he added. Winds are expected to gradually decrease through the evening.
In Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, a giant western Hemlock fell and landed on the roof of a home.
“I heard a big gust of wind and we ran outside to make sure no one was hurt,” Marlow Harris told KOMO-TV. “Everyone loved the trees here, so I’m sad that we lost a big old tree, it must have been 60 feet tall.”
Stormy weather tips
At one point, 40,000 Seattle City Light customers were out of service, particularly in northeast Seattle, Fremont, Capitol Hill, Magnolia, Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill and West Seattle. By 10 p.m., crews had restored power to all but about 4,900 homes and businesses, according to City Light. Seattle residents can see areas that were affected by power outages online here.
At Sand Point, the weather-service office was running on a generator. Wedgwood Elementary School lost power around noon for an hour and a half.
Woodland Park Zoo closed until further notice at noon on Thursday.
Sound Transit warned Sounder north line riders to consider alternate transportation options due to power lines hanging over the train tracks near Magnolia. ST Express Route 522 may be delayed due to downed trees on Lake City Way, according to Sound Transit. The agency said all Sounder north line trains are expected to run on schedule Friday.
Just north of Burlington, Skagit County, fallen trees and power lines had blocked both directions of Interstate 5 at Bow Hill Road around 1:15 p.m., but lanes reopened later. The Deception Pass Bridge was closed due to a fallen tree.
Winds in Bellingham ripped part of the exterior from a clock tower. In Discovery Bay, west of Chimacum, an 80-foot sailboat was blown aground.
“Apparently trees aren’t all we are dealing with today,” tweeted Washington State Patrol Trooper Chelsea Hodgson with a photo of a trampoline trapped between power lines in Grays Harbor.
Washington State Ferries officials said runs such as the ones to San Juan Islands and Port Townsend-Coupeville experienced cancellations and delays, while some Puget Sound area runs faced delays, rough seas and limits on boarding space.
The weather service says wind gusts Thursday reached 74 mph along the coast in La Push, near 60 mph inland and 117 mph at Mount Baker.
The weather service recommends that Puget Sound area residents exercise caution when driving by avoiding blocked roads and downed power lines.
The storm came on the heels of a rare tornado that ripped through Port Orchard in Kitsap County on Tuesday, damaging homes.
Scott Wilson, a spokesman with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, said Thursday’s windstorm brought some typical damage — such as fallen trees and downed power lines — to Port Orchard, but did not appear to cause further damage.
The windstorm also follows another that hit Western Washington last Friday, which caused 200,000 power outages around Puget Sound.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.