Power outages on a chilly, windy Veterans Day shut down electric service to nearly 5,000 households in Clallam and Jefferson counties, including 3,800 on Clallam’s West End.
By 4 p.m., power was restored to all but a few Port Angeles Boat Haven customers.
A tree on an unstable bluff fell at 11 a.m. Tuesday onto two power lines on Marine Drive in Port Angeles during brisk winds, city Public Works and Utilities Director Craig Fulton said.
Service was cut to 800 residential and industrial customers, including large employers Nippon Paper Industries USA, Westport Shipyard and Platypus Marine Inc.
Fulton said power was restored to most customers by noon.
But the outage disrupted the late-morning departure of about 700 participants in Veterans Day ceremonies at Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Ediz Hook, accessed by Marine Drive.
Traffic was snarled to a standstill in the city’s industrial core.
Power was restored by 4 p.m. to Nippon’s paper mill, Fulton said, adding that restoration to Boat Haven was expected by 5 p.m.
Power also was cut to 3,800 customers in the Forks area when a tree came into contact with a power line at 12:45 p.m. on U.S. Highway 101 at Milepost 203 near Mary Clark Road, said Mike Howe, Clallam County Public Utility District spokesman.
Power was restored at 1:55 p.m.
Electric service also was lost to 332 Jefferson County Public Utility District customers at 12:45 p.m. when a tree limb came into contact with a power line off South Point near the Hood Canal Bridge, Electrical Superintendent Kevin Streett said.
Streett said there appeared to be almost no wind at the time.
Power was restored by 3:30 p.m.
Across Puget Sound, thousands of homes and businesses from Bellingham to Tacoma lost power as strong easterly winds as high as 60 mph gushed out of the Cascades.
At least three homes were damaged by toppled trees.
Puget Sound Energy said nearly 27,000 customers were without power at the outage’s peak, mostly in Auburn, Federal Way, Enumclaw, Edgewood, Kent and Sumner.
Tacoma Power reported that about 6,700 were without power, most of them in and around University Place.
The state Department of Transportation closed all westbound lanes of Interstate 90 between Denny Creek and Easton before noon due to multiple trees and other debris across the road. The freeway was reopened by 12:30 p.m.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
The Associated Press and KOMO-TV, a PDN news partner, contributed to this report.
