Windstorm knocks out power for thousands in South Sound

A whopper of a windstorm overnight knocked out power for thousands of people in South Sound.

Mason County PUD 3 crews were working to restore electricity to more than 4,100 of its customers, the utility posted on Monday morning.

“The area hardest hit is the west Tahuya Peninsula, where wind gusts were reported at nearly 40 mph,” Mason PUD 3 posted on its blog.

At 7:30 a.m. Puget Sound Energy was reporting that about 20,000 of its customers from Olympia to Bellingham were still without power in the Western Washington on its outage map. In Thurston County, the hardest hit areas were in Roy, Yelm and around Capitol State Forest, according to the map.

And more power outages might be on the way.

On Monday morning, the National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for much of Western Washington.

“Winds of this strength are capable of downing trees and large limbs, knocking out power and causing some roof damage,” the warning stated. “Falling trees and flying limbs are often the cause of fatalities during Western Washington windstorms.”

In South Sound, the storm is expected to produce southerly winds of 40 mph and local gusts of 60 to 65 mph, peaking between 3 and 7 p.m., forecasters say. It’s expected to peak along the coast earlier, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

This story was originally published November 13, 2017 at 7:36 AM with the headline "Windstorm knocks out power for thousands in South Sound."