Roughly 85,000 people in Snohomish County are without electricity as high winds continue to rake the Puget Sound region.
Winds also caused trouble for some afternoon commutes.
Highway 531 near Arlington was reopened about 6 p.m. after fallen trees and powerlines had blocked the roadway at 67th Avenue NE. On Highway 9, drivers were forced to navigate intersections where traffic signals were dark.
On Camano Island, falling trees blocked E. Camano Drive and Smith Road, according to the Island County Public Works Department.
At 3 p.m. in Everett, steady winds of 36 mph with a gust of 54 mph were recorded at the Paine Field weather station, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
In Island County, 37 mph winds with gusts up to 49 mph were measured about 3:25 p.m., according to the weather service.
About 4 p.m., the Snohomish County PUD was working to restore power to roughly 4,600 households. Within an hour and a half, that number increased to about 85,000, PUD spokesman Mike Thorne said. A dozen PUD substations were out of commission because of the storm, he said. Most of the outages were in north Snohomish County and in Camano Island, and outages were also reported in Marysville, Everett and Snohomish.
It’s unknown how many outages have occurred in Snohomish County throughout the day.
Most of the outages were caused by tree branches falling onto power lines, he said.
“There are going to be more outages,” Thorne said.
Scattered outages were also reported in Island County, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman said.
A wind advisory was issued for Snohomish County and a high-wind warning was issued for Island County early today.
The wind is expected to calm down tonight, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Burke said.
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