More than 600,000 lose power from bomb cyclone in Western Washington
Hours after a massive windstorm howled with gusts up to 74 mph in the lowlands, crews in Western Washington were working Wednesday to restore electricity for over 640,000 customers who lost power overnight.
At least one person died, when wind toppled a tree at a Lynnwood homeless encampment Tuesday night.
A rotating rapidly intensifying system of storms, known as a bomb cyclone, skirted the West Coast and churned about 300 miles west of the Olympic Peninsula. Its strength was expected to wane Wednesday, though a sequel system could move in Thursday or Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Over 400,000 people of those without power were Puget Sound Energy customers, outside the city of Seattle. Heavy snow, fallen trees and — on Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass — a jackknifed semitruck blocked routes in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Some flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were also rerouted when the storm was near its peak.
After peaking at 1 a.m., winds significantly dropped off by 4 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.
All wind warnings and advisories have ended, the weather service said.
Damage from fallen trees and downed wires was reported throughout the region. The easterly winds are in the opposite direction of usual high winds, making it easier to knock down trees, said weather service meteorologist Dana Felton.
“The trees are ready to defend against southwesterly winds, not so much easterly,” he said.
A woman in her 50s died after a large tree fell onto a homeless encampment in Lynnwood during Tuesday night’s storm, according to South County Fire. Firefighters responded to the encampment off Alderwood Mall Parkway shortly after 7 p.m., the agency posted on X.
The strongest gusts reached 74 mph in Enumclaw, and the Seattle area saw gusts between 45 to 55 mph.
Parts of the North Cascades including Stevens Pass and the town of Roslyn and Easton are under a blizzard warning through 10 a.m. Wednesday, with blizzard conditions expected at or above elevations higher than 2,000 to 2,500 feet.
Power outages
More than a half-million customers in the region were without power for most of Tuesday night.
As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, more than 474,000 Puget Sound Energy were in the dark, and by 5:40 a.m., crews had managed to lower the number to 416,000.
Seattle City Light reported 112,600 customers without power late Tuesday, though that dropped to about 70,300 by 5:40 a.m. Wednesday.
Crews with the Snohomish County Public Utility District were also working to get customers back online. Outages dropped from 115,200 late Tuesday to 74,159 by 5:44 a.m. Wednesday.
Estimated time of restoration for PSE customers was largely listed as “to be determined,” but was described as an outage that would last days. Snohomish PUD said it was unable to provide a timeline, but said it may take “multiple days” to restore power. Estimated restoration times will be updated on outage maps as they become available.
Seattle City Light listed most, if not all, estimated restoration times as 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. An initial time is auto-populated by the utility’s system and updated by operations staff based on information such as location, cause and safety as a top priority.
Those affected by outages should check for updated estimates throughout Wednesday by visiting:
Puget Sound Energy: pse.com/en/outage/outage-map
Snohomish HUD: outagemap.snopud.com
Seattle City Light: seattle.gov/city-light/outages