Hundreds still without power in Thurston County after Monday’s storm
Hundreds of Thurston County residents were still without power Tuesday, a day after a strong storm blew through the area to start the week.
Puget Sound Energy data show scattered outages throughout the county and some areas are not expected to have power restored until Wednesday, according to utility estimates.
PSE is one of the primary providers of power throughout the region. About 34,000 customers were still without power Tuesday morning. However, that was down from more than 100,000 customers on Monday.
After a rain-soaked weekend, Monday’s storm brought strong winds that uprooted trees and knocked off tree branches.
National Weather Service data for Monday show the Olympia area received a peak wind gust of 55 miles per hour around 9 a.m. Sustained winds ranged between 20 and 35 miles per hour during the morning and into early afternoon, the data show.
As for the rest of the week, residents can expect much milder weather. It is expected to be partly sunny on Wednesday, followed by a chance of rain every day through Saturday. Winds are forecast to be calm.
Temperatures, though, will drop into the 30s overnight and climb only into the 40s during the day.
Bellingham and other areas north fared much worse than Thurston County.
Heavy rain triggered mudslides and floods and forced the closure of Interstate 5 near the Canadian border, officials said. Road crews managed to reopen southbound lanes of I-5 near Bellingham, but the highway’s northbound lanes remained closed.
Schools in the city of Bellingham were closed on Tuesday for the second day in a row.
North of Bellingham, authorities said one person was still missing Tuesday after being seen in floodwaters clinging to a tree.
And a motorist in Bellingham was injured when a tree fell on a vehicle. Evacuations were ordered in multiple areas as floodwaters swamped business districts and partially submerged cars in communities north of Seattle and winds gusted at speeds of 60 mph.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several rivers around western Washington. Early Tuesday the NWS said there was good news in that the Skagit River at Mount Vernon would crest at near 36 feet, more than a foot below the previous estimate.
Gov. Jay Inslee declared a severe weather state of emergency in 14 counties and said the state Emergency Management Division, with support from the Washington National Guard, would coordinate the response.
In the town of Hamilton, about 80 miles northeast of Seattle, cars and trailers were packed into the parking lot outside the Red Cross evacuation site at Hamilton Baptist Church, where dozens of residents are waiting out the storm, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
Skagit County officials compared the flood to severe flooding in 2009, when the Skagit and Samish rivers overflowed and caused damage to homes, farms and infrastructure.
As the water made its way down the swollen Skagit River, people were warned to expect flooding and evacuation orders for other communities.
And just south of the Canadian border in the community of Sumas, officials said city hall was flooded in a soaking that reminded people of severe floods in 1990.
Bellingham’s record rainfall on Sunday totaled 2.78 inches, crushing the prior daily record from 1998 of 0.88 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Another 1.89 inches poured down on Bellingham on Monday.
On the Olympic Peninsula, several highways were partially closed and the U.S. Coast Guard helped local authorities evacuate about 10 people near the town of Forks. In nearby Quillayute, a daily record rainfall of 4.01 inches was set on Monday.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 9:04 AM.
