Heavy wind hits Peninsula, with top gust near Sequim; electrical power interrupted for 1,400, mostly in Jefferson County

Heavy winds hit much of the North Olympic Peninsula early Thursday morning, knocking out electrical power to slightly more than 1,400 customers, mostly in East Jefferson County.

The highest wind gusts were reported in the foothills south of Sequim, which was hit by 64 mph gusts at 3:11 a.m. and 65 mph gusts at 9:57 a.m.

Power goes out for 1,400

About 1,300 electrical customers lost power at 4 a.m. near Port Townsend, and another 100 customers were in the dark around Discovery Bay about the same time, said Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Abigail Elliot.

Power was restored to Discovery Bay by 10 a.m. and the Port Townsend area by 2 p.m.

The Clallam County Public Utility District reported only small, scattered outages.

“There were certainly a number of smaller situations where trees were in secondary lines serving individual or a small number of customers,” said PUD spokesman Jeff Beaman, “but nothing where we had a large number of customers affected.”

A few dozen customers could have lost power, he said.

The National Weather Service forecast calm weather today and Saturday. Neah Bay may receive gusts up to 33 mph Saturday.

Some other peak wind observations posted Thursday:

• Port Townsend — 43 mph at 7:24 a.m.

• The Dungeness Valley had 40 mph winds at 7:04 a.m.

• William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles — 40 mph, 4:53 a.m.

• Diamond Point — 35 mph, 10 a.m.

• Neah Bay — 34 mph winds at 4:24 a.m.

• Quillayute Airport west of Forks — 31 mph, 4:53 a.m., 7:53 a.m.

• Hurricane Ridge — 52 mph, 12:01 a.m.

• Race Rocks, British Columbia, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Victoria — 62 mph, 4 a.m.; 60 mph, 9 a.m.

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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.

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