Do you have a photo or video from the Veterans Day storm? Send it to us at metrodesk@columbian.com.
• To report downed trees or traffic-light outages in the city of the Vancouver, call 360-487-8177 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. After hours, call 360-693-9302.
• Report outages or downed power lines to Clark Public Utilities’ customer service line, 360-992-3000, or the outage line, 360-992-8000.
To view outages in real time, see the Clark Public Utilities map
Arctic winds gusting upwards of 50 mph hit Clark County today, knocking out power for tens of thousands of electricity customers by this evening.
The Veterans Day storm brought below-freezing temperatures to the region, and today’s forecast calls for freezing rain and the possibility of snow.
The windstorm brought trees and tree limbs onto houses, roadways and power lines and is likely to continue into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The wind even uprooted a “do not enter” sign, which struck a woman walking near the state Highway 500 exit ramp to Andresen Road, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn. The woman, who had a cut on her face and bruised ribs, was sent to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
With schools and government offices closed today, many hunkered down at home waiting for the windy weather to pass.
The day started with a large outage in Camas around 6:50 a.m. that was mostly repaired by 9 a.m. By 6 p.m., a total of 39,119 customers had experienced outages throughout the day, said Clark Public Utilities spokeswoman Erica Erland. Some areas saw power restored, only to lose power again.
A half-dozen crews were working nonstop Tuesday, responding to the outages — nearly 100 in all by Tuesday evening. A tree that damaged a high-voltage transmission line caused the largest outage, leaving 10,636 customers in downtown Vancouver temporarily without power. The Columbian and the Clark County Jail were among those that were affected and used backup generators. Even Clark Public Utilities’ facility was on a generator at one point during the day.
“We have everybody who is available out in the field,” Erland said. “They’re busy.”
While Clark Public Utilities scrambled to address dozens of local power outages on Tuesday, the Bonneville Power Administration reported no problems with its regional system, said BPA spokesman Mike Hansen.
The federal power marketing agency maintains high-voltage transmission lines, substations and other major infrastructure that distribute power across the Northwest grid. BPA’s large utility towers, for example, are built to withstand winds of 90 mph or more, Hansen said.
Elsewhere in western Washington, Puget Sound Energy reported more than 23,000 outages, mostly in the south King County area.
In Portland, power losses were reported from the western suburbs to Mount Hood.
Trees fell on two highways in the area — state Highways 500 and 503. Two lanes of Highway 500 were blocked in the Orchards area from 11:15 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m., according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Traffic on Highway 503 in the Yacolt area was disrupted for about two and a half hours for a tree that blocked the roadway. Another tree blocked the highway near Fargher Lake, Finn said.
Vancouver’s public works department had two street operations crews working Tuesday that received dozens of calls about downed trees, said Loretta Callahan, department spokeswoman. The crews worked with Clark Public Utilities when trees fell on power lines.
Downed trees interrupted traffic on streets including Northeast Chkalov Drive, Northeast St. James Road near 49th Street, Northeast 18th Street and northbound Lieser Road north of St. Helens Avenue, she said.
Additionally, two signal crews had to reset 30 traffic signals and were still responding to calls for service late Tuesday afternoon.
Affected traffic lights reverted to blinking red, creating four-way stops. Once power gets restored, traffic lights must be reset on-site for safety reasons, Callahan said. An employee must have a clear view of all lanes at the intersection so resetting the lights doesn’t trigger an accident, she explained.
Other traffic lights were completely out, also turning them into four-way stops.
Between noon and 2:45 p.m., Clark County Public Works had received 18 calls, primarily about downed trees in the eastern part of the county.
Do you have a photo or video from the Veterans Day storm? Send it to us at metrodesk@columbian.com.
Sheila Ensminger, a senior office assistant for public works, said the county had dispatched three crews to respond to the calls.
A tree that fell over the railroad tracks in Vancouver behind The Columbian on West Eighth Street did not delay any trains.
In the Puget Sound area, a tree fell across the mainline tracks north of Tacoma around 10 a.m., halting Amtrak and freight service for almost three hours, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF Railway. Three passenger trains and five freight trains were delayed.
Multiple houses were damaged by downed trees.
Annie Cramer, 56, was at her home at 2010 Lincoln Ave. when two trees fell onto her house at the same time.
“I was lying in bed trying to figure out why my TV was off, my roommates were up and around asking for batteries then — crash,” she said.
One tree, which fell onto Cramer’s front door and across her porch, also fell onto power lines. A 911 dispatcher told her to stay inside to avoid being harmed.
Cramer said that because the tree took out her house’s circuit breaker box, the power to her house was not restored when the outage for her neighborhood was resolved. She said that she and her family would make the best of it.
“We’re all good,” she said. “I just hope no more come down.”
Another residence lost its trampoline, which was found upsidedown on the sidewalk in the 7800 block of Northeast 63rd Street, according to Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Neiman.
• To report downed trees or traffic-light outages in the city of the Vancouver, call 360-487-8177 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. After hours, call 360-693-9302.
• Report outages or downed power lines to Clark Public Utilities' customer service line, 360-992-3000, or the outage line, 360-992-8000.
To view outages in real time, see the Clark Public Utilities map
The storm is expected to continue into Wednesday, with overnight freezing temperatures setting up the chance of snow Wednesday and Thursday, when a moist weather system moves into the region from the southwest.
Forecasters expected the strongest winds to arrive overnight today into Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Portland. A high wind warning issued earlier this week remains in effect until 3 p.m. Wednesday, with winds from the east measuring 25 mph to 45 mph, and gusts as high as 65 mph.
When moisture arrives later Wednesday and Thursday, it could produce wintry precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. The threat of snow and freezing rain is especially strong in the Columbia River Gorge, forecasters said.
For most of Clark County, any wintry precipitation should transition to rain Thursday morning, and remain that way for the rest of the week, according to the weather service.
Reporter Tyler Graf contributed to this story.
