On Monday morning (Jan. 7), Puget Sound Energy released a damage assessment/info statement on restoration efforts due to this weekend’s fierce windstorm.
As of 6 a.m. Monday, PSE says that approximately 55,000 customers are still without power, and some may not have it restored until Thursday, Jan. 10.
Here’s a screenshot of the PSE Outage Map from Monday morning:
Also, all Kent Schools were closed due to continuing power outage issues.
All KSD schools are closed today. The central admin office is open. There is no preschool, no out-of-district transportation and all evening events and activities are cancelled. Puget Sound Energy is continuing to work to restore power, learn more at https://t.co/WwPTDHXuht. pic.twitter.com/znJ8sxDdd4
— Kent School District (@KentSchools415) January 7, 2019
Here’s PSE’s statement:
A forceful windstorm moved through the Puget Sound region early Sunday, with gusts near 60 mph in some areas, causing widespread outages in the Puget Sound area.
Crews worked through the night to assess damage, remove trees and debris, and restore power to customers impacted by yesterday’s wind storm, with power restored to more than 250,000 customers.
As of 6 a.m. Monday, approximately 55,000 customers are without power; our crews will work until all power is restored. As crews finish work in one area, they are assigned to repair damage in another.
Damage is heaviest in Pierce and King counties. High winds and resulting tree damage have downed local power lines and poles, and have also caused substation outages. Fallen trees are impacting road access in some areas, and are making damage assessment challenging in some locations.
We expect to restore power to many customers throughout the day. Due to the extensive damage, we anticipate some customers may be without power through midweek in hard-hit Pierce and King counties.
We anticipate the last customer without power in Thurston County to have power restored by 9 p.m. on January 8. Most customers will be restored sooner, and estimated restoration times will be updated on pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they are available.
We anticipate the last customer without power in North King County to have power restored by 10 p.m. January 8. We expect most customers will be restored sooner, and estimated restoration times will be updated on pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they are available.
Due to extensive damage, we anticipate the last customers in South King County without power to be restored by 6 a.m. on January 10. Most customers will be restored sooner, and estimated restoration times will be updated on pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they are available.
Wind and tree damage in Pierce County was significant, so we anticipate the last customers without power to be restored by 9 p.m. on January 9. Most customers will be restored sooner, and estimated restoration times will be updated on pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they are available.
These hard-hit areas are where the most repairs to our system are needed and where we are still assessing damage. We are dispatching helicopters again this morning to assess damage where conditions have made ground access difficult to impossible.
Damage assessors are finding extensive damage from fallen trees and downed utility poles and lines, which takes time to access, replace, and repair. Crews continue to make repairs to the transmission system and are also making repairs to the smaller, local power lines serving neighborhoods.
Since yesterday, crews have repaired 14 of 32 damaged transmission line segments and restored 16 of 20 substations that were without power. The combination of transmission lines and substations is critical to powering up your homes and businesses.
We know it’s difficult for our customers to be without power, especially on cold days. Our crews are working as quickly as they can to safely assess damage and make repairs to equipment. Our crews and servicemen are assisted by damage assessment teams, safety crews, road flaggers and hundreds of support staff working to restore power.
As damage assessment teams complete their on-the-ground surveys, we will provide updated estimated restoration times. As we have new information, these estimated restoration times may change, as they are estimates only. We will update you with the best information we have, as we have it.
Our Emergency Coordination Center and local storm bases are open and coordinating restoration efforts. We’ve also brought in additional crews from around the region to assist with restoration efforts.
If you are experiencing an outage please be advised that you will not receive update notifications via text, email or calls. You can still report your outage online at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app.
We are working to repair issues with our restoration alert text, email and phone calls. For now, the best way to follow the status of an outage is by checking our outage map at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app.
https://www.pse.com/outage/outage-map
