Winds take out power on West Side

EVERETT, Wash. – High winds led to widespread power outages in the north Puget Sound region, just weeks after a windstorm left much of Western Washington in the dark.

Puget Sound Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, had about 6,700 customers without service, spokesman Dave Reid said Saturday. At the storm’s peak, there were 34,000 people in the dark.

Most of the remaining outages were on Whidbey Island, due to a downed transmission line, Reid said.

An estimated 8,000 customers with the Snohomish County Public Utility District were without power Saturday afternoon, down from 105,000 overnight, said Mike Thorne, a spokesman for the utility.

The hardest hit areas include Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Granite Falls, east Marysville and some areas of south Snohomish County, Thorne said.

Wind gusts up to 59 mph and sustained winds of 30 mph were reported overnight Friday, Thorne said.

In Everett, a tree fell onto one family’s home, just missing a girl as she and her sister lay in their beds. They were not injured.

The storm also knocked out power and forced ski areas at Snoqualmie Pass to close.

U.S. Highway 2 was closed in both directions at milepost 54 due to downed power lines early Saturday morning, and operations at Stevens Pass were temporarily shut down.