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Electricity restored as late as Saturday from Jan. 26 storm
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – Jim White will get a claim for his 2014 Ford pickup being totaled. He was wondering when to replace it. Timing is everything. Last Thursday he was taking his chainsaw to the roots of the Douglas fir in front of his house at 503 State Street. It blew over in the Wednesday, Jan. 13 storm. See more windstorm pictures on page 7. – Photo courtesy of Rick Dole
It is often said that an ill wind blows no good.
That being the case, the storm that blew through here last week was plenty sick.
Fierce winds downed trees and power lines, caused major property damage, and left some residents in the La Conner area without electricity for up to four days.
Images of the early Wednesday morning storm painted a grim picture.
A Ford pickup parked at Jim White’s State Street residence was totaled by a fallen tree. A large Douglas fir blew over near the community kitchen in Pioneer Park, which had sustained structural damage in November. The Town Public Works Department expanded the park’s cordoned-off hazard zone.
A big Douglas Fir was uprooted near Dan Jensen’s home in the Pull-n-Be-Damned area and sent sprawling across power lines there. Power in the area remained off well into the weekend.
Surprisingly, a nearby leaning cedar tree that Jensen has been planning to take out survived the storm.
“I have another tree leaning over that may have to come down,” Jensen told the Weekly News, shortly after his internet service was restored.
At that point, late Friday night, Jensen was still without electricity. He has not fared well with storms this winter, he said.
“I’ve lost power three times this year,” Jensen said.
He did not suffer alone.
People residing outside La Conner, both west and east of Swinomish Channel, drove into town to charge devices, launder clothes, refrigerate and freeze food items, work or attend school remotely and bunk with friends and family until electrical service was restored.
A Thousand Trails member staying at the company’s resort on Swinomish Reservation relocated his family into La Conner for three nights. He was awake, just after midnight Wednesday, when the storm hit.
“I saw transformers blow like it was a tornado,” he said.
The Puget Sound Energy media relations line was swamped through the week with requests from reporters for updates on efforts to restore power to homes and businesses. So numerous were those calls that they were forwarded to voice mail.
About 300,000 customers in western Washington were impacted, more than 6,000 of them on Fidalgo Island, west of La Conner.
It was a perfect storm of events, literally and figuratively, that made restoration of electrical service so challenging, according to the PSE website. The regional energy company posted that steady rainfall prior to the storm saturated soils, making trees and power poles less able to withstand the high winds. Downed trees and electrical wires created dangerous conditions that slowed initial damage assessments and responses.
“We understand how difficult it is to be without power,” the PSE website said, “especially with so many of our customers working from home and/or navigating remote learning.”
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Police Chief Earl Cowan provided confirmation.
“Crews are actively working in several areas of the reservation,” Cowan said on Thursday. “Some of the work had to wait until daylight for proper assessment of damage and safety of the work crews.”
One priority area was Reservation Road, which was for a time closed to traffic near its ‘Y’ intersection with Snee Oosh Road, due to a downed tree.
Loss of power disrupted daily routines from meals to being able to take hot baths and showers.
“Until the power is restored,” Swinomish resident and Weekly News contributor Robin Carneen said, “I’m eating up my cereal, so my milk won’t spoil. We have our fridges plugged into a generator so we might be okay.”
Residents of the Pleasant Ridge area, where power poles were damaged on Summers Drive and Rexville Grange Road, reported heading into Mount Vernon for dinner at drive-thru restaurants, or to La Conner for take-out meals.
Restoration of electrical service did not solve all problems. In a few cases, new ones emerged. Resulting power surges reportedly fried electronics and control modules on household appliances.
Overall, though, local residents were thrilled to have their lights back on and life returned to some semblance of normalcy as the weekend drew to a close.
“After 83 hours without power,” Charlie Edwards of Swinomish said, “I can finally do all the things I love – dishes, laundry and going to the bathroom in my own house.”
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