6,000 lose power; toppled tree snarls I-5 traffic

Published 10:09 pm Saturday, June 23, 2012

Wet, windy weather briefly knocked out power for thousands of people in Snohomish County on Saturday afternoon and even toppled a tree onto I-5 in Everett.

At its peak, the power failure affected about 6,000 customers in Mukilteo, Monroe and Granite Falls, Snohomish County PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said. Most people had power restored within an hour. A lightning strike is believed to have been the cause.

Nearly a quarter inch of rain fell in the Everett area between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Dana Felton said. Most of the rain fell before 3 p.m., when the skies started to clear. A high wind gust of 35 mph was recorded at Paine Field.

A fallen tree on I-5 near Highway 526 blocked at least one northbound lane and backed up traffic. The first report of the downed tree reached the Washington State Department of Transportation at 2:14 p.m. A little more than 20 minutes later, it had been removed.