Gusty conditions caused multiple power outages over the weekend, leaving as many as 2,500 without power for part of Sunday afternoon.
“(It was) nothing too significant. We had a tree brush through the lines somewhere,” said Ian Cope, Grays Harbor Public Utility District community and government relations director. “When the tree went through the lines, it damaged some equipment and they had to go replace it.”
Another outage affected customers in the central part of the county where a line down left outages for about 30 miles, Cope said.
“They had a wire down on Wynoochee Valley Road,” Cope said. “They had that done pretty quick.”
As the April showers come to bring May flowers, as well as to pry back the icy claws of the drawn-out winter from the collective throat of the county, the moisture in the ground could create issues leading to outages, Cope said, though that’s not forecast at this point.
“As the rain picks up during the spring, you might have super saturated soil,” Cope said. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary at this point.”
There will be a controlled outage next week, Cope said, on the night of Friday, April 21 through to the morning of April 22 as crews do work in the northwestern part of the county. The outage will last from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning.
“It’s going to be all Lake Quinault, all the way up to Kalaloch,” Cope said. “They have to move poles over so they can do fish passage and restoration. When the fish passage is done and restored they’ll have to move it back.”
Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.
PUD plans outage for North Grays Harbor
The Grays Harbor Public Utility District is notifying customers in North Grays Harbor of a planned power outage, impacting 787 customers.
The outage will begin at 10 p.m. on Friday, April 22, and is expected to last until 5 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, according to a news release. The impacted areas will be customers on US 101 north of McNutt Road, including Neilton, Amanda Park, Lake Quinault, Clearwater, Queets and Kalaloch. All impacted customers will receive notification phone calls from the PUD.
The outage will allow crews and contractors to complete equipment relocation work necessary for fish passage restoration projects.
In preparation for this outage, customers are advised to take precautions with any electronic equipment such as computers, televisions and microwaves by unplugging those items. You should leave them disconnected until after the power has been fully restored.
The outage duration of seven hours is only an estimate and power could be restored at any time as work is completed. It is not safe to do electrical work or repairs during that period.
