Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
High winds rake county, cut power
9,000 Snohomsh County PUD customers lose power after 60 mile per hour winds cause widespread outages.
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Mark Mulligan / The Herald Mimi Wilden looks across the pine tree that crashed just feet from her south Everett home during the high winds around the Puget Sound early Monday morning. Wilden was looking out of the window at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning when she heard a crash and watched through the darkness the tree came falling towards the house. A neighbor has offered to help Wilden cut up the tree. Photo taken 011809
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Mark Mulligan / The Herald
While her mother watches, Mimi Willden (right) looks across the branches of a pine tree that crashed just feet from her south Everett home during the high winds that hit the Puget Sound area early Monday morning.
EVERETT — A strong windstorm swept through Snohomish County early Monday, knocking out power to thousands and leaving a mess in some people’s back yards.
Gusts at Paine Field topped out at 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
At its peak, 9,000 customers lost power, Snohomish County PUD officials said.
The howling wind roused Mimi Willden of out bed around 4 a.m., the south Everett woman said.
She was still shaking off the last bits of sleep when she peered out of a window and saw a huge pine tree topple in her back yard.
“The tree came right down at me,” Willden said. “It just missed the house by a few feet.”
No one was hurt, but the messy snarl of broken limbs was a familiar sight across the county and on Camano and Whidbey islands, where gusts also were clocked over 60 mph.
Crews were deployed countywide Monday morning to restore power, said Neil Neroutsos, a PUD spokesman.
Most of the outages Monday were reported in parts of Everett, near Martha Lake, on Camano Island and near Lake Goodwin, he said. Other outages were scattered across the county.
By late morning, power had been restored to most customers, he said.
Heavy rains during the weekend were blamed for a mudslide Saturday that shut down the mainline train tracks between Mukilteo and Everett, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said.
The mess was cleaned up within hours, allowing freight rail traffic to continue, he said. Passenger service was restored Monday morning after a required 48-hour delay.
“All lines are open and traffic is moving,” Melonas said Monday.
A series of storms now is lined up in the Pacific and expected to bring more bad weather to Western Washington, said Johnny Burg, a National Weather Service forecaster.
While the storms are expected to bring rain and wind, they aren’t expected to deliver a repeat of “anything like what we had” early Monday, Burg said.
By lunchtime Monday, it felt more like spring in downtown Everett than mid-winter. The wind was calm and temperatures nudged near 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Willden and her dog, Buster, used the reprieve to try to figure out how to clear the tree debris from her yard. A neighbor stopped by and offered to use a chain saw to cut up the branches, she said.
“I’ll be getting a lot more sunshine,” Willden said. “I’m looking at the bright side of things.”
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
Gusts at Paine Field topped out at 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
At its peak, 9,000 customers lost power, Snohomish County PUD officials said.
The howling wind roused Mimi Willden of out bed around 4 a.m., the south Everett woman said.
She was still shaking off the last bits of sleep when she peered out of a window and saw a huge pine tree topple in her back yard.
“The tree came right down at me,” Willden said. “It just missed the house by a few feet.”
No one was hurt, but the messy snarl of broken limbs was a familiar sight across the county and on Camano and Whidbey islands, where gusts also were clocked over 60 mph.
Crews were deployed countywide Monday morning to restore power, said Neil Neroutsos, a PUD spokesman.
Most of the outages Monday were reported in parts of Everett, near Martha Lake, on Camano Island and near Lake Goodwin, he said. Other outages were scattered across the county.
By late morning, power had been restored to most customers, he said.
Heavy rains during the weekend were blamed for a mudslide Saturday that shut down the mainline train tracks between Mukilteo and Everett, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said.
The mess was cleaned up within hours, allowing freight rail traffic to continue, he said. Passenger service was restored Monday morning after a required 48-hour delay.
“All lines are open and traffic is moving,” Melonas said Monday.
A series of storms now is lined up in the Pacific and expected to bring more bad weather to Western Washington, said Johnny Burg, a National Weather Service forecaster.
While the storms are expected to bring rain and wind, they aren’t expected to deliver a repeat of “anything like what we had” early Monday, Burg said.
By lunchtime Monday, it felt more like spring in downtown Everett than mid-winter. The wind was calm and temperatures nudged near 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Willden and her dog, Buster, used the reprieve to try to figure out how to clear the tree debris from her yard. A neighbor stopped by and offered to use a chain saw to cut up the branches, she said.
“I’ll be getting a lot more sunshine,” Willden said. “I’m looking at the bright side of things.”
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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