As Grays Harbor shook off its first autumn storm over the weekend, multiple small outages occurred around the county, briefly affecting thousands of residents.

The outages in Satsop, near Mox Chehalis Road, and in Ocean Shores and Copalis Beach have all been sorted out as of Monday morning, according to Grays Harbor Public Utility District No. 1 Communications and Government Relations Director Ian Cope.

“Living on the coast, we’re always going to see some storm-related outages,” Cope said in a phone interview. “If we get a good blow that comes through, we’re going to have trees get knocked down. That’s why we encourage customers to have an outage kit ready.”

Downed trees were the likely culprits for two of the three outages, Cope said. The trees, many of which still have some foliage, are commonly affected by the first major storm, Cope said.

“The first one, you see a lot more weighted branches than you will later in the year,” Cope said. “It’s not surprising that we see some outages.”

The Ocean Shores-Copalis Beach outage on Monday morning was the largest, affecting about 8,400 customers, Cope said. Power was restored within about an hour.

“The one today, the lines all were up and clear of debris,” Cope said. “That’s likely to be a tree that came down, brushed the line and popped the circuit breaker.”

To prevent trees coming down on the line, crews keep vegetation around the lines trimmed back, Cope said, though it is a larger area of responsibility with many lines going through rural areas.

“Our crews are on a three- to four-year cycle of trimming back trees so we can control it as best we can,” Cope said. “They do a pretty good job of keeping the lines as clean as they can.”

The week is predicted to have heavy rain around the county, Cope said, with winds forecast for next weekend.

“We have gotten a few alerts from the National Weather Service saying they’re expecting active weather for the rest of the week. It’s supposed to be pretty wet,” Cope said. “It’ll be breezy but it doesn’t look like it’ll be anything significant until we get into next Saturday, when we’re looking at 30-40 mph winds.”

Cope encouraged residents to have an outage kit handy, with things like mobile batteries for phones, light sources, food and water, and other necessities. Residents can also sign up for outage alerts at https://www.ghpud.org/outages-safety/.

Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.