Power was restored Sunday to the remaining North Olympic Peninsula residents left in the dark after a soaking storm hit the region with two days of strong winds.
The system will move out of the area today with only a few showers, and dry, mild weather is expected for the area beginning Tuesday and lasting through the week, said Johnny Burg, a Seattle-based National Weather Service meteorologist.
The storm’s highest wind speeds measured in the state were recorded Saturday near the West End community of Sappho, where a National Weather Service station measured a wind gust of 69 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
The Sappho weather station is 4 miles northwest of Sappho.
The wind came in three distinct bursts — Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday evening, Burg said.
Burg said the Saturday morning wind burst was the most severe.
“The coast got the brunt of it,” Burg said.
Emergency shoring of jetties at LaPush and Taholah held against waves estimated by the National Weather Service to be 20 to 30 feet.
On Friday, an Army Corps Emergency Management Response team working with local contractors placed more than 1,000 tons of large boulders to protect against the breaching of jetties constructed to protect the low-lying towns.
No serious damage was reported in either of the coastal communities Sunday afternoon.
Both Clallam and Jefferson county public utility districts reported multiple power outages.
“There has been a lot of tree damage [to power lines],” said Kevin Streett, electrical superintendent of Jefferson PUD.
A handful of Jefferson County residents remained without power early Sunday afternoon, but electricity was expected to be restored before the end of the day, Streett said.
Clallam PUD reported an outage in the Forks area from 7:40 p.m. until 8:40 p.m. Saturday.
A tree limb hit power lines, causing a cross arm on a power pole to burn, said Mike Howe, spokesman for Clallam PUD.
There were sporadic, small outages in Port Angeles and Forks through Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, Howe said.
In Port Angeles, a large willow tree was downed at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday on A Street.
Port Angeles City Works crews were able to remove the tree by 10 a.m.
On Sunday afternoon, a 3-to-4-foot diameter tree blocked Crescent Beach Road, north of Joyce.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
