PORT TOWNSEND — About 6,700 electrical customers in East Jefferson County lost power for several minutes Friday morning when strong winds caused tree branches to fall on transmission lines.
About 67 percent of customers in the 98368 area code lost power at about 9:40 a.m. when the Hastings and Kearney substations went down, said Will O’Donnell, spokesman for the Jefferson County Public Utility District.
The Kearney Substation came back on line within minutes, restoring power to some 2,500 customers, said O’Donnell. The remaining 4,200 customers were without power until about 10:20 a.m. when the Hastings Substation came back on line after PUD crews located and cleared tree branches that had fallen on transmission lines, he said.
Despite gusty winds across the North Olympic Peninsula, Clallam County had no reported outages Friday morning, said Nicole Clark, spokeswoman for Clallam County Public Utility District.
The 98368 area code includes 10,022 PUD customers. It encompasses the greater Port Townsend area, stretches south to the Jefferson County International Airport and west to the Discovery Bay area as far south as state Highway 104.
While O’Donnell said power flickered at his home on Marrowstone Island and others reported brief internet outages in the Port Hadlock area, power outages were contained to the 98368 area code, with about a dozen localized outages lingering into late Friday morning.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Nicholas Johnson can be reached by phone at 360-417-3509 or by email at njohnson@peninsuladaily news.com.
