West Side Left Powerless Three People Killed As Fierce Windstorms Down Trees, Tear Off Roofs, Capsize Sailboats
Thousands of Western Washington residents are likely to be without electricity until tonight in the wake of windstorms in which three people died, officials said.
Winds gusting higher than 70 mph on the coast, the high 60s in some inland areas and the high 50s around Seattle on Sunday also caused damage ranging from blown-down trees to ripped-off rooftops.
At the height of the storm, electricity was out to more than 170,000 homes and businesses in Western Washington, including 100,000 in five counties served by Puget Sound Energy, 30,000 in the city of Seattle and 40,000 in Snohomish County.
By midday Monday, power had been restored to all but 60 customers in Seattle, 5,000 in Snohomish County, and 40,000 in Puget Sound Energy’s territory, including about 12,000 on the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, 13,000 in King County north and northeast of Seattle and more than 10,000 on Whidbey Island.
Kristin Wappler, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman, said it might be tonight before all electricity is completely restored in areas served by that utility.
A Peninsula Light Co. worker who was hit by a falling tree early Monday morning was listed in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center.
A 70-year-old Federal Way-area woman was listed in critical condition at Madigan Army Medical Center after the catamaran on which she was sailing with her two sons overturned near Gig Harbor. The Coast Guard said rescuers used axes to chop a hole in the hull and remove the woman. One of the men was treated at the scene and the other was listed in stable condition at the hospital.
Shellie Sattler, 35, of Everett, died Sunday when a tree fell on the pickup truck in which she was riding with her husband and young son near Mukilteo, 25 miles north of Seattle.
The husband was trying to use the truck to push one tree out of the way when another smashed onto the cab, Mukilteo police Cmdr. Mike Murphy said.
The husband and son were listed in stable condition at Providence General Medical Center in Everett, a nursing supervisor said.
Dong Yang, 39, of Arlington drowned after swimming about 100 yards offshore to retrieve an ice chest that was blown off a dock near Coupeville on Whidbey Island, where he had been fishing with friends, Coupeville Police Chief Leonard Marlborough said.
Danny David Roberts, 38, of Port Angeles, died after his small plane crashed into an empty house, apparently because of gusty winds, shortly after taking off from the Diamond Point Airport on the Olympic Peninsula, Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Don Kelly said. Roberts was a dentist at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.