SEATTLE, Wash. — The first strong fall storm of the season swept across Western Washington on Saturday night, toppling trees and leaving well over 80,000 homes and businesses without electricity at its peak.
Seattle City Light counted more than 46,000 of its customers in the dark around 9 p.m. Saturday, with trouble spots in West, South and North Seattle. Puget Sound Energy was handling outages at more than 220 sites that affected upward of 27,000 customers, including on Bainbridge and Vashon islands and in Bellevue and other Eastside communities.
Farther west, the Clallam County and Grays Harbor County public utility districts reported roughly 10,000 additional outages between them. The National Weather Service clocked a 69 mph gust at Hoquiam on the coast, while Boeing Field in King County topped out at 43 mph.
South of the city, the largest single City Light outage hit 4,884 customers in Burien starting at 8:42 p.m., with the utility estimating power back before 3 a.m. Sunday. The cause was listed as under investigation.
Rough water also forced Washington State Ferries to halt the Port Townsend to Coupeville run.
City Light urges anyone who sees a downed line to keep at least 30 feet back and dial 911. Outages can be reported at 206-684-3000. Forecasters expect showers to linger into the coming week, with another system due Monday.
