High winds to hit the region | PSE, city on alert
Published 2:07 pm Thursday, December 11, 2014
The National Weather Service has issued a high-wind warning for the Puget Sound region to remain in effect from 4 p.m. today to 4 a.m. Friday, predicting overnight winds of 30-40 mph and gusts up to 65 mph.
The NWS also reports saturated soils, mixed with strong winds, will likely also topple large trees and cause widespread outages. Puget Sound Energy reports it has increased staffing in key operations throughout the company in anticipation of the wind storm and the potential for major outages.
PSE also states about 30 crews from other utility and power companies arrived overnight to help with restoration efforts, warning some areas could take several hours to complete due to safety concerns and the need for winds to die down before setting to work.
Transmission and distribution lines will be given top priority, according to the power company, as well as restoring critical services like hospitals, police and fire.
Outages can be reported to PSE at 888-225-5773 and tracked at pse.com/outagemap.
The city of Bellevue warns residents to fuel up on gas, should service stations lose power, and to use caution at dark intersections, treating them as four-way stops.
Emergency and extreme weather updates from the city can be found here.
