Outages were reported in Clallam County late Tuesday as stormy weather moved in, bringing rain and the threat of high winds to the region.
The Clallam County Public Utility District reported an outage affecting about 100 customers in the Sherburne, Cassidy Creek and Atterberry area around 4 p.m. Tuesday, and said on social media crews were responding.
Multiple weather warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS) were in effect for both Clallam and Jefferson counties on Tuesday afternoon, but all of them were set to expire by this morning.
Meteorologist Maddie Kristell of the Seattle NWS office said heavy sustained winds were expected across the Olympic region, particularly in the overnight hours Tuesday, which could see winds speeds of 35 mph with gusts up to 65 mph.
The region has experienced a range of weather over the past week, with regionally heavy snow falling shortly before temperatures dipped to sub-freezing levels during the day and then jumped back up again as rain moved in over the Christmas weekend.
But following Tuesday’s strong winds, Kristell said the area was likely to experience weather more typical for the season.
The Peninsula is “generally looking at light rainfall, but nothing that isn’t seasonable for this time of year,” Kristell said. “The concerns should be fairly limited to (Tuesday evening) and into the early morning hours.”
Another system could bring additional winds on Thursday, Kristell said, but they are not expected to be as severe as Tuesday’s.
Also in effect Tuesday were coastal and river flood warnings as Western Washington experienced exceptionally high king tides and additional runoff into rivers from rain and snowmelt.
A record high tide of 18.4 feet on Tuesday submerged parts of the state capital of Olympia, which swept marine life into the city’s streets, officials said.
“Jellyfish washed over the shoreline and into our streets,” said Olympia Water Resources Director Eric Christensen, according to an Associated Press story.
“There was a woman who was kind enough to rescue them and put them back into Budd Inlet.”
Other areas around Puget Sound — including parts of Seattle and the northwest corner of the state — also saw flooding, which trapped cars and impacted buildings, AP said.
About 35,000 people in Washington state were affected by power outages Tuesday afternoon, mostly in the southwestern part of the state, according to PowerOutage.
Light rain was expected through the rest of the week, Kristell said, which likely wouldn’t cause flooding to occur in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Public Utility Districts in Clallam and Jefferson counties said they were monitoring the weather and were ready to make repairs if needed.
Tuesday morning, Jefferson County PUD reported more than 1,200 customers without power, but by the afternoon, all outages had been restored, according to communications director Will O’Donnell.
“All the outages have been fixed. Mostly branches on lines,” O’Donnell said in an email. “We are monitoring the weather. Our crews are prepared to respond.”
Nicole Hartman, communications manager for Clallam PUD, said the utility had restored the outages reported Monday and that the forecast was being watched as it was updated. There were some concerns that saturated ground may cause landslides or falling trees, Hartman said.
The state Department of Transportation reported traffic was stopped at 1:47 p.m. in both directions on state Highway 112 northwest of Sekiu due to fallen trees across the road. The trees were cleared shortly after 5 p.m.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
