The storm that whipped wind and rain across Clallam County on Wednesday left thousands of people high and dry and without electricity that may take days to restore even as more foul weather is expected over the weekend.
Both the Makah and Quileute reservations at Neah Bay and LaPush probably won’t have power until some time this weekend, said Larry Morris, operations and facilities manager for Clallam County Public Utility District.
One five-man utility crew from Chelan County had arrived in Port Angeles by midday Thursday, and three more were on their way from Eastern Washington to help beleaguered local workers.
“We’re kind of waiting for them to come in because they’ll be fresh bodies,” Morris said.
“A lot of our guys never went home. They’ve been up since 5 o’clock yesterday morning.”
Olympic National Park crews also received reinforcements from Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
It was too early to put a dollar value on damage across the county, said Emergency Management Director Bob Martin, but “literally hundreds of trees” were downed on county roads and hundreds more on private property.
Harm to public property was highest at Salt Creek Recreation Area, where trees and limbs fell onto signs, restrooms and picnic tables.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation cleared state Highway 112 between Joyce and state Highway 113 west of Pysht.
Clallam County’s sewage treatment plant in Sekiu, however, remained running on generators, Martin said, and the hamlets of Sekiu and Clallam Bay were without electricity.
Wednesday’s storm was more windy than rainy, dumping less than 2 inches on Port Angeles.
Anticipated flooding of the Bogachiel River didn’t materialize.
Waters receded short of flood stage on the Elwha River, too.
At the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation at the river’s mouth, tribal Police Chief Rod Charles said evacuations were not necessary, and water had receded from roads.
Power, however, was interrupted for four hours.
Electrical outages continued in the Olympic foothills above Port Angeles, the PUD’s Morris said, especially for homes at the end of power lines.
“We try to focus on where we can get more of our customers back on,” he said.
The utility also put priorities on Deer Park Road, Old Mill Road and Morse Creek, sites of water treatment plants.
