Crews working to restore power, repair damage after windstorm

High winds on Thursday took out trees that brought down power lines and left thousands of people in the dark across Western Washington.

This is a recap of storm damage and outages from the South Sound and North Sound.

Tacoma Public Schools also announced Thursday night that Lincoln High School would be closed because of damage caused by the windstorm. A repair crew determined after 10 p.m. that the repairs could not be made in time to start school in the morning. To see photos of the windstorm, follow this link.

In Grays Harbor County, 40 PUD crew were working to get power restored and said it would be several hours before work was complete. Ocean Shores and Oyehut had power restored Thursday night.

On Lemon Road Northeast in Olympia, winds brought a massive tree straight to the ground and took the power out with it.

“It took down the entire power line, so that's down. It's lying on the road right now. When I drove over it I didn't want to get shocked or anything,” said Megan Harn.

The tree fell right in front of Megan’s house. She said she was having a bit of déjà vu.

"A couple years ago, around this time, around Christmas, the power was out for seven whole days, which was a little bit of a struggle. It was fun at first, but it got old pretty fast,” she said.

Puget Sound Energy said at the peak, 5,600 people were without power in Thurston County. That included Lissa Harn, who was doing her best to keep busy.

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“I'm just meandering around with my flashlight getting the mail and I was going to wander over and see if anyone wanted to play charades in the dark,” she said.

KIRO 7 spotted pockets of people without power across the county. In Lacey, PSE crews were investigating a blown transformer and, in Olympia, sawed tree limbs sat on the side of the road.

Megan said she’s thankful crews are out working. She hopes the lights come back on soon.

"We're on a well, so, whenever the power goes out, we don't have any water, can't use the toilets, have to shower at other people's houses,” she said.

At 10:30 p.m., PSE said about 1,100 customers in Thurston County were without power.

Strong winds in Whatcom County drove waves that hammered Birch Bay Drive.

A section of Birch Bay Drive near Harborview Road buckled during Thursday’s storm as sand, rocks and other debris lay scattered across the roadway.

Whatcom County workers were busy into the night trying to clear the road.

“We’ve had flooding and we’ve had high tides and high winds but combination – never seen it like that,” said neighbor Avery Lyons.

KIRO 7 obtained video recorded by neighbors that showed a business along Birch Bay heavily flooded as waves pounded the building.

“All of a sudden, we seen the front door bust open and chairs and everything started rushing out the front,” said neighbor Jason Higgins, who recorded video of the flooded restaurant that he shared with KIRO 7. “Very surprising.”

North Whatcom Fire and Rescue said firefighters safely rescued an elderly woman who was trapped in her car after driving into flood waters on Birch Bay Drive.

“Our engine company 63, led by Captain Jon Ahrenholz, got the occupants to safety and even retrieved their car without damage,” said North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief of Operations Joe Noonchester.

Noonchester said his agency responded to nearly two dozen storm-related calls Thursday over a ten hour period, mostly for fallen trees and downed power lines, with several sparking small fires.

*The City of Bellingham also announced that the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center will remain closed until Dec. 26 due to the storm.

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