Another round of stormy weather knocked out power Wednesday evening to more than 16,800 customers — essentially everyone west and southwest of Port Angeles as well as portions of the city itself — and caused other scattered outages across Clallam County.
By 9 p.m., several thousand had power restored, but about 13,600 customers of the Clallam County Public Utility District and the city of Port Angeles remained without electrical service.
A downed transmission line put the West End in the dark.
Of the 13,600, about 12,000 were PUD customers affected by dozens of separate outages.
“They’re working from one outage to the next,” said PUD spokesman Jeff Beaman.
The West End lost power about 6 p.m. when a Bonne Âville Power Administration transmission line was knocked out somewhere between Port Angeles and Sappho.
Beaman said he could not estimate when power would be back online for PUD customers.
Since the area where the transmission line had severed had not been located, he said, “we don’t know what we are up against.”
Fallen trees and power lines blocked sections of both U.S. Highway 101 and state Highway 112 late Wednesday, said state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kelly Stowe.
Both lanes of Highway 101 were blocked at Milepost 241 just beyond Olympic Hot Springs Road, she said at about 10 p.m.
Both lanes of Highway 112 at Milepost 45 near West Lyre River Road were blocked by downed trees at 9:15 p.m.
She did not know when the highways would be cleared.
Emergency center
The Clallam County Emergency Operations Center was activated at 9 p.m. to direct road crews to remove fallen trees across the county.
In Port Angeles, 4,846 customers lost power Wednesday evening.
As of 8:30 p.m., power had been restored to all but 1,600 customers.
Three of the city’s four substations went down because of faults in the power lines, said Glenn Cutler, Port Angeles public works and utilities director.
He expected all customers to have power restored by midnight.
A power line along 16th Street was posing the biggest problem for city crews Wednesday night.
It was taken out by a fallen tree at about 6 p.m., and power had to be rerouted.
Cutler said it will take about three days to replace the power line.
Earlier in the day, power was lost and later restored to Diamond Point and to a few scattered outages near Sequim.
Jefferson County
In East Jefferson County, the wind downed a few trees, some causing power outages.
High winds and heavy seas prompted the state Department of Transportation to cancel the final runs Wednesday of the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday evening reported winds of more than 30 mph in Port Angeles, Forks and Neah Bay, and more than 40 mph in Port Townsend. Wind speeds in Sequim did not exceed 12 mph.
Winds are expected to die down today in Port Angeles but not in Forks and Neah Bay, which are expected to have gusts of more than 25 mph.
And Port Townsend may have gusts as great as 44 mph.
Winds will continue to slow on Friday, but Sequim and Port Townsend may be breezy.
Rainy weather will continue across the North Olympic Peninsula for the rest of the week.
A flood watch will be in effect through Friday.
Few mudslides
Stormy weather earlier in the week caused minor damage to the Olympic Discovery Trail near Port Angeles, as well as a few mud slides around Clallam County.
Cutler said Wednesday that staff members are monitoring a portion of the Discovery Trail between the city limit and Morse Creek where harsh weather had eroded the asphalt.
A small slide also hit the trail in that area, but the path remains open.
“Right now it’s still passable,” Cutler said.
“If it gets some more wind and high tide action combined, than we could potentially close the trail.”
The Port Angeles City Council declared a state of emergency Tuesday in response to the recent storms.
Cutler said the declaration allows the city to waive some bid requirements to bring in contractors.
It was used Wednesday to bring in a contractor to remove debris that was blocking a culvert on White Creek, a tributary of Ennis Creek on the east side of Port Angeles.
The city did not have equipment big enough for the job, he said.
Clallam County Engineer Ross Tyler said road crews have cleared two mudslides and one fallen tree this week.
The slides occurred on Dan Kelly Road west of Port Angeles and Joyce-Piedmont Road near Joyce.
A large tree was removed from Hoko-Ozette Road, and debris blocking a storm drain in Sekiu is going to require some “outside help” to fix, Tyler said.
A blocked culvert caused flooding Monday night along Marine Drive in Port Angeles.
Tumwater Creek overflowed its banks, causing large Pettit Oil Co. tanks at the company’s Marine Drive depot to tilt and a small oil spill at Pettit’s other site, at 527 Marine Drive.
The backup also filled Plunkin Shack Cafe’s basement with three feet of water.
About 1.4 miles of Tumwater Truck Route, state Highway 117, were closed because of flooding, caused by a combination of heavy rain and alder trees growing along the creek’s banks.
Port of Port Angeles Executive Director Jeff Robb used an emergency declaration to have the trees removed Monday night.
_________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
