Thunderstorm Leaves Many Without Power Several Counties Pummeled By Destructive Winds, Rain And Hail

Thousands of people in Eastern Washington were without power Saturday after a severe thunderstorm pounded the area.

Winds gusting to 60 mph and hail nearly 2 inches thick hit several counties Friday night - knocking down trees and power lines, causing mudslides and damaging homes.

“It made me think of Ice Storm,” said Karen Towner of Spokane, who watched as the wind uprooted a 70-foot pine tree in her back yard.

It crashed onto her fence and knocked down a neighbor’s cherry tree. The tree didn’t cause much damage, she said, but it frightened her into taking her two youngest children to the basement.

“I was scared and thought that we needed to leave and go somewhere safe,” said Towner, an Indian Trail neighborhood resident for 10 years.

Unconfirmed reports of tornadoes were reported in Ritzville, Newport and Deer Park.

Weather Service meteorologists saw funnel clouds Friday night but they did not touch the ground.

“The amount of winds that we received late last night was not typical,” said Paul Frisbie, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Spokane. “The intensity of that thunderstorm was a rare event.”

The storms were generated by high humidity and temperatures that reached the 90s in the day and cooled in the evening, the Weather Service said.

No one died. There were no flying cows. But Friday’s storm caused plenty of havoc.

Almira in Lincoln County was hit the hardest. Authorities reported flooding, road washouts and severe damage to houses.

The storm’s destructive path stretched from Asotin County to Pend Oreille and Stevens counties.

About 2,000 homes in Adams County were still without power Saturday morning. Parts of Highway 129 were closed for several hours because of mudslides, dispatchers said. One lane was open early Saturday.

The county’s two main bridges linking Clarkston, Wash., and Lewiston were closed for nearly an hour Friday night, dispatchers said.

Interstate 82 eastbound in the Tri-Cities also was closed for several hours due to a mudslide.

Crews all over the area worked to clear roads and restore electricity to thousands of customers.

About 10,000 Washington Water Power Co. customers in the Lewiston-Clarkston area lost power during Friday night’s storm, company spokesman Rob Strenge said.

About 4,000 customers remained without power Saturday afternoon, as did about 100 customers in Spokane, where lightning created a spectacular show Friday night.

Hundreds of WWP customers also lost power in the Palouse region of southeastern Washington, but nearly all those had electricity restored Saturday.

In the Lewiston-Clarkston area, 1.9 inches of rain was recorded over a 24-hour period ending Saturday morning. More than an inch fell in a one-hour period during the height of the storm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.