Storm takes out trees and power

As office seekers and voters alike focused on which way political winds were blowing, it was a meteorological windstorm that grabbed attention in the La Conner area Monday afternoon.

Gusts of up to 60 mph snapped off sections of trees in the Snee-Oosh Road area, occasionally bringing down power lines and causing short-term interruptions of electrical service. Power was out on at least some part of Pull and Be Damned Road till about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Some homes in Shelter Bay lost power for at least a couple of hours.

Indian Road was closed to through traffic around 12 p.m. when a tree reportedly fell with a power line across the roadway next to the smokehouse there. Power was restored in the area just before 2 p.m., then went out again until shortly after 3 p.m.

Snee-Oosh Road from Swinomish Avenue to Indian Road was briefly closed on Monday due to downed trees and lines. Work crews returned on Tuesday to clear the roadside across from FD 13’s Snee-Oosh Road fire station, with flaggers directing single-lane traffic.

The worst of the storm, which began prior to daybreak, passed just ahead of nightfall Monday.

Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Gerald Tracy provided Skagit County outage figures: 8,158 customers lost power. The first outages were at 9 a.m., caused by tree limbs on power lines or poles knocked down. By midnight 80% of the lights were back on. Tuesday at noon 110 customers still did not have power.

In its wake, the gusty conditions left part of a fir tree sprawled across John Stone’s boat on Swinomish Reservation. A La Conner Elementary School student reported that the wind had flung a schoolmate’s coat over the school building and had to be fetched by a teacher. A thick branch was sheared off a tree at the Thousand Trails Lone Tree Point preserve and struck a motorhome, causing damage to its windshield.

La Conner Schools were able to remain open all day, experiencing just one quick flicker of classroom ceiling lights.

By Tuesday morning, the air was calm, and the sun shone over the La Conner area.

Interestingly, in anticipation of severe fall and winter windstorms, Skagit County Fire District 13 – whose coverage area is Swinomish Reservation and rural La Conner – held a major windstorm emergency preparedness drill last March.