PORT LUDLOW – More than six inches of snow fell on the Port Ludlow-Paradise Bay area Wednesday night and early Thursday.
In contrast, Clallam County had snow flurries – with some snow falling fast and furious – but little accumulation over the same period.
A snow-laden tree fell down a steep hillside along the southbound lane of Paradise Bay Road and snapped a 50-foot power pole at about 1:45 a.m. Thursday.
The heavy, wet snowfall “brought a tree down and took the pole out,” said Puget Sound Energy spokesman Roger Thompson on Thursday.
Power was out for about 12 hours for 500 residents of the area south of Oak Bay Road toward Hood Canal Bridge’s west end, Thompson said.
Electricity was restored at about 2:15 p.m. Thursday after the pole was repaired.
About two miles of Paradise Bay Road between Tala Shores Drive and Teal Lake Road were closed to through traffic at about 3 a.m. Thursday, after Puget Sound Energy reported the power pole and line damage.
The utility company called in an independent contractor, Bremerton-based Potelco, and a crew arrived at 4 a.m. to replace the pole and repair power lines.
The outage occurred during the third major snowstorm in the area since November.
No serious damage causing power outages has occurred since mid-December.
“It’s been, knock on wood, reasonably quiet over past few weeks,” said Thompson.
He said 2006 was “an unprecedented year for us in terms of outages.”
The power company serves nine Puget Sound-area counties and spends upwards of $15 million a year in cutting back trees and vegetation that threatens its power poles and lines, he said.
