Thousands of people across western Washington were without power Tuesday night as a “bomb cyclone” brought strong winds to the region.
The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for the Washington coast, the east Puget Sound lowlands, and areas near Bellevue through early Wednesday morning. Winds between 30-40 mph were possible, with gusts up to 65 mph expected.
Areas closer to the Puget Sound shoreline were under a less severe wind advisory Tuesday evening through early Wednesday morning, with gusts up to 50 mph expected.
As of 8:36 p.m. Tuesday, at least 221,435 outages were reported across western Washington.
Below is a breakdown of the reported outages by utility company:
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At 7:41 p.m., PSE posted on X that its website’s outage map was experiencing issues, and they were working to resolve the issue.
The NWS tweeted just after 7 p.m. that wind gusts of 77 mph were reported at Sunrise at Mount Rainier, 74 mph gusts were reported in Enumclaw, 57 mph gusts in Federal Way, and 55 mph gusts at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
At 8:29 p.m., Sound Transit posted on X that they were experiencing “significant delays” on the 1 Line due to the weather. They also noted they’re experiencing outages at some 2 Line stations.
Crews with Eastside Fire and Rescue responded to at least two trees that had fallen onto buildings by 5:20 p.m. Tuesday.
First responders across the region are reminding the community to be aware of their surroundings and not to travel in this weather if possible.
Officials say it’s never safe to approach a power line that is on the ground, often called a “downed” power line. These lines can still be energized and electrocute people. You should stay at least 30 feet away from any downed power line and call the utility company to report it. If the fallen line is life-threatening, for example, causing a fire or touching an occupied car, call 911.
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