Wind gusts of 45 mph to 55 mph knocked out power Tuesday afternoon to more than half of Snohomish County PUD’s customers in the county and Camano Island.
The winds blew in off a choppy Puget Sound, knocking trees onto at least three homes, blowing out windows and blacking out numerous intersections.
In some cases, motorists weren’t thwarted by downed trees — they just cut them out of the way with chain saws.
From about 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., the windstorm worked its way across Snohomish County from north to south, knocking out power in Everett, Stanwood, Granite Falls, Lynnwood, Marysville, Arlington, Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Mukilteo.
More than 150,000 of the PUD’s 290,000 residential and commercial customers lost their power at some point, PUD spokesman Mike Thorne said.
"I’ve been with the PUD for 27 years, and in my memory this is the worst I’ve seen since 1993," when a windstorm knocked out power to 175,000 customers, he said.
Part of the roof over the pool building at Marysville-Pilchuck High School blew off during the storm, but the building will remain open for activities. The damage estimate is still being assessed, school district spokeswoman Judy Parker said.
A tree that fell onto I-5 near 164th Street SW blocked two southbound lanes, backing up traffic for miles. Traffic on surrounding arterials was also clogged into Tuesday night.
At least 13 electrical substations were knocked out, he said. "That affects a lot of customers, but the good thing is that when we get a substation back, we can get power back to thousands of customers," Thorne said.
The PUD planned to have crews working through the night to restore power, he said.
"People are getting power back as we speak," Thorne said late Tuesday night.
Numerous power lines were on the ground throughout the county, and Thorne urged residents to call the PUD at 425-783-1000 to report downed lines. "They can be extremely dangerous," he said.
The windstorm crushed two 10-foot-tall windows at Video West in north Everett.
"Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention," said Michael Berry, who was busy renting out movies when he heard a loud pop. "It was just kind of freaky."
Luckily for Berry and his customers, the window blew out rather than in.
Apparently, a gust of wind blew into the building when the front door was opened, generating so much pressure that the windows popped, spraying glass over the sidewalk and onto Broadway.
In south Everett near Hilton Lake, an 80-foot hemlock fell onto the home of Shanna Blatnik shortly after 5 p.m.
A limb punched through the ceiling of the bedroom of her 2-year-old son Austin. Blatnik, 33, and Austin had left for the grocery store only moments earlier.
"It came right through, like a spear," she said, pointing to a 3-foot limb that stood upright against Austin’s pinewood dresser. A piece of light blue ceiling hung precariously above.
"It scares me so bad that it was in Austin’s room," she said. "Anywhere but my son’s room."
Usually, she said, Austin takes a nap at that time, but "he woke up and was really cranky, so we decided to run to the store to get some milk, because we thought the power was going to go out."
As two neighbors cut the tree in pieces with a chain saw to prevent further damage to the house, Blatnik and her husband, Dan, said they felt lucky.
"I was just so relieved they were gone when it happened," Dan Blatnik said. Behind him, the tree lay at about a 45-degree angle against the back of his home, the roots exposed and a hole where the tree had been.
Worried about unstable walls, the family was planning to spend Tuesday night in the nearby home of Shanna Blatnik’s mother.
Like many Snohomish County drivers Tuesday, Shanna Blatnik had to dodge branches that were strewn across roadways.
"Branches kept hitting my car as I was driving," she said.
An evergreen tree at least 50 feet tall toppled and sliced into the roof and dining room of a home in the 12000 block of Fourth Drive SE. The home’s occupant, Jay Williams, had been sitting in his dining room seconds before.
"Dad just got off the dining room chair and headed downstairs and it happened," said his son, Erik Williams, who came to help his father with the mess. "It crashed and he thought the whole world was falling."
Meanwhile, a tornado reportedly touched down near Sumas, damaging a barn and knocking out power in the Canadian border town.
A funnel cloud was reported in Seattle along I-90, but there were no reports of it touching down, meteorologist Carl Cerniglia said. Radar indicated there may have been other rotating clouds in the region, but there was no visible confirmation. No funnel clouds were reported in Snohomish County.
Reporter Lukas Velush:
425-339-3449 or
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