A VICIOUS WINDSTORM knocked out power to thousands of residents Monday night in Port Angeles, Port Townsend and elsewhere in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
“The windstorm obviously caused some damage in the area,” Port Angeles City Spokeswoman Teresa Pierce said at about 9:30 p.m.
“At least three utility poles snapped and broke off. Public works purposely turned off the power downtown.”
Repairs were made in the downtown area, and power was restored there shortly before midnight.
There were also power outages Monday night in downtown Port Townsend, reported PDN Staff Writer Charlie Bermant, and at Lake Sutherland about 20 miles west of Port Angeles, said PDN Technical Services Director Dave Weikel.
In Port Angeles, the Peninsula Daily News — in the midst of publishing a newspaper for delivery Tuesday morning — was in the dark and without power from about 9:10 p.m. to shortly before midnight, when electricity was restored.
A capacity crowd of about 1,200 was left in the dark at the Port Angeles High School Auditorium when a concert by the Falconaires jazz band from the Air Force Academy was interrupted, then canceled, by a power outage at about 8:10 p.m.
Air Force band members, with flashlights, helped audience members out of the darkened auditorium.
The concert was about half-way done when the power went out.
Twenty minutes later, a power pole snapped in downtown Port Angeles and was leaning toward the Federal Building.
Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Davina Gruenstein said roughly 6,000 Jefferson County customers were without power after two substations were knocked off-line shortly after 8 p.m.
Gruenstein had no estimate for how long the power would be out. Crews had to first check the lines to make sure they weren’t tangled in branches before restoring power, Gruenstein said.
“Crews are in route,” she said.
Clallam County Public Utility District spokesman Mike Howe said PUD customers were in the dark all over the county.
“We don’t have any precise numbers right now,” Howe said.
Bermant said downtown Port Townsend was completely dark except for Jefferson Healthcare and the new ferry.
Open mic night at the Upstage Theatre and Restaurant was interrupted by the outage.
“When the lights went out we went acoustic,” said Petra Chonczyinski, a waitress at the bar.
“We’re still serving but we have to do math and it’s really, really hard.”
About 20 people stayed at the bar, which was being lit with battery-operated candles, Bermant said.
In Clallam County, dispatchers alerted crews to downed trees west of Port Angeles near Lake Crescent and the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation as the windstorm made its way through the region.
KOMO meteorologist Scott Sistek said a powerful weather condition known as a lee-side trough caused the strong winds.
Port Angeles crews were alerted to power lines in roads. Dispatchers reported that traffic signals were out at Eighth and Cherry and Eighth and Peabody at 9:57 p.m. A large explosion was reported near B Street about half-hour earlier.
Street lights were out on Lincoln Street and First and Front streets at 11 p.m.
Pierce had no estimate for how many city residents were without power. Affected areas were downtown, along Peabody Street and near the high school, she said.
“Right now our priority is safety, and making sure power is out where we have downed lines,” Pierce said.
On the city grid, one household could be without power and the house next door could be lit, Pierce said.
Likewise, outages were scattered throughout Clallam County, the PUD said.
Hoko, Sol Duc, Blue Mountain and Gasman Road were just a few of the areas without power at 8:45 p.m.
“It kind of goes on and on,” Howe said.
PDN reporter Tom Callis, who lives off Gasman Road in the Bluffs neighborhood east of Port Angeles, said his power was still out as of 10:10 p.m.
