Thousands remain without power through the weekend as Whatcom County begins cleanup
Saturday update: “Red Cross Shelter opened in Kendall at the East Resource Center and the number of people seeking shelter has increased as the power is still out and it has started to snow. In the Kendall area, there is currently 2-3” of snow. Whatcom County Fire District No. 14 is assisting residents to get to the shelter. It is anticipated that with the snowfall and winter weather moving in, that the number of people seeking shelter will increase,” according to an update from John Gargett, the deputy director for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management.
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More than 40,000 people throughout the Puget Sound region were without power late Friday after Thursday’s wind storm blew through, with Whatcom County being one of the hardest hit areas.
High winds and tree damage downed local power lines and larger transmission lines, which have to be fixed first and bring power into communities, according to updates from Puget Sound Energy. The company was still assessing damage Friday, according to Janet Kim, a PSE spokesperson.
PSE estimated many customers had power restored sometime Friday, but for others in Whatcom County, power is expected to be restored by 6 p.m. Monday. By Friday evening, 9,000 people were still without power in Whatcom. Point Roberts, Kendall, Maple Falls, Glacier and Birch Bay were the hardest hit areas.
Peaceful Valley and the Kendall area had requested a shelter be opened and the Red Cross was evaluating when it could open the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center at 8251 Kendall Road in Maple Falls, according to an update from John Gargett, the deputy director for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management.
Friday there were 2,300 people in Point Roberts without power, and the Community Center at 1487 Gulf Road and the Fire Station were open and running on emergency generators, Gargett said. The Community Center was also functioning as a community incident tent for people to meet with PSE staff.
In Kendall, nearly 2,000 people were without power, and there were almost 350 people in Maple Falls without service. Repair crews had not yet arrived by 4 p.m. Friday to restore power to the 1,078 people affected in the Glacier area. Overnight low temperatures were expected to be around the mid- to upper-30s in most areas, according to meteorologist Jay Albrecht with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Updates will be provided on PSE’s outage map, as well as the myPSE app.
A winter weather advisory is in effect from 4 p.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday for the Cascade mountains, Mount Baker Ski Area and the Whatcom and Skagit valleys with 6- to 12-inches of snow expected above 2,500 feet, and two feet possible along higher peaks, according to the National Weather Service.
A coastal flood advisory is in effect from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday with minor tidal overflow producing minor flooding in low lying areas along the shoreline for a couple of hours around high tide, according to the National Weather Service.
Officials reminded those without power to never use a natural gas range for heating, or charcoal as an indoor heating or cooking source, to use flashlights instead of candles, to keep portable heaters away from furniture and flammable materials and to not go within 30 feet of downed power lines.
Damage in Birch Bay
Birch Bay suffered significant road damage and at least one business was destroyed, Gargett said. As of Friday evening, unofficial damage estimates for the area were approaching $2 million, Gargett said. An official damage estimate is expected in the next week or two, he said.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office responded to the flooding event in the area and used an armored vehicle to clear parts of the roadway and assist people, Undersheriff Jeff Parks said in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
On Thursday, the National Weather Service reported gusts reaching 62 mph at Sandy Point, 66 mph at Bellingham International Airport, 73 mph in Ferndale and 117 mph on Mount Baker — the highest reported gust in Western Washington.
Roads will remain closed until further notice in the area while damage is being assessed. On Birch Bay Drive, between Cottonwood and Harborview, one of the southbound lanes was destroyed. The asphalt was undermined and pieces of it washed away, making it unstable for vehicle traffic, according to Gina Miller, the assistant superintendent for maintenance and operations with Whatcom County Public Works.
“We had high tides coupled with strong winds that pulled debris up onto the roadway,” Miller said.
A detour that’s less than a half-mile has been put in place taking drivers on Cottonwood. The detour, which Miller expects to have minimal impact on traffic, will stay in place for a while because repairing the road will be a large and complicated project, she said. There’s also still debris on the shoulders in the area and it will take time to clean up, Miller said.
Crews were working to open one northbound lane between Harborview and Shintaffer by the end of Friday, and the speed limit was to be restricted to 10 mph.
The largest impact for Whatcom County Public Works was multiple road closures due to trees on power lines. Until PSE handles the wires, public works can’t handle the trees and roads. A list of emergency road closures can be found online at whatcomcounty.us/308/Public-Works.
Tammy Wojcik, owner of Canine Divine Pet Grooming Spa in Birch Bay, said her four employees were working a busy schedule Thursday when they noticed water coming over the road. The workers went to move their cars, but soon realized the flooding was growing and instead jumped into action. They moved dogs off the floor and into higher kennels and picked up all the electrical equipment and cords they could find, canceled upcoming appointments and got in touch with the owners of the five dogs still in the shop — some that had just come out of the bath or were only partially groomed, Wojcik said.
“My groomers did their best and did as much as they could to keep water from pouring in here,” Wojcik said. “It was like a river down our front corridor, if we opened the door it would have flooded the place completely.”
Some of the pet owners couldn’t get to the business because the road had closed, so the employees stayed with the dogs until the end of the day when they could be walked out safely to their owners, Wojcik said. Rather than going home, the employees returned to help Wojcik clean and dry her store. They were there working until 9:30 p.m., she said.
“They’re the reason I can keep this business and carry on because they saved my shop and they saved dogs and took care of themselves. And they’re still here today taking care of everything,” Wojcik said. “I’m just very blessed with the best staff anybody could ask for.”
Wojcik said everything had been cleared out of the shop Friday and they had moved on to assessing damage for repairs. Wojcik said she expected the floor would need to be ripped out, the walls would have to be cut and dried, and things would have to be flushed and cleaned due to salt water damage. She said she doesn’t know when she expects to reopen, but said that she has a “staff full of positive attitudes and upbeat personalities that make heavy work light.”
“We have a wide community of support here in cute little Birch Bay. I feel blessed in the aftermath,” Wojcik said.
Weekend weather
Friday was expected to be a “reasonably nice day” weather-wise, with a weaker system moving in Friday night and Saturday morning, bringing breezy conditions and a little bit of rain, meteorologist Jay Albrecht with the National Weather Service in Seattle told The Bellingham Herald Friday.
More rain is expected Sunday, Albrecht said, but high winds are not expected.
“It’s pretty nice actually for this time of year,” he said.
Albrecht said there was a strong low-pressure system going over central Vancouver Island Thursday that brought the damaging gusts to the area. The waves and flooding along the shorelines were caused by the storm hitting around high tide, he said. There are no current flood watches in place, he said Friday.
“Right now the only thing we have going on in the vicinity of Bellingham would be out over the waters where we’re looking at possible gale conditions for wind, but over the land areas we’re not looking at any problems,” Albrecht said. “It’s just typical breezy winds with maybe some rain at times, but not all that heavy between now and Christmas.”
In Bellingham, the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center closed Thursday afternoon due to a power outage and will remain closed until Wednesday, according to a city press release. It is anticipated to open after the holidays, and programs are canceled in the meantime. Swim passes will be extended, the release states.
The 12th Street bridge in Fairhaven was closed Thursday due to downed power lines, city Public Works spokeswoman Amy Cloud told The Bellingham Herald Friday. With Interstate 5 also closed due to downed trees, Whatcom-bound drivers diverted to Chuckanut Drive faced a winding trip through Fairhaven Thursday evening before the bridge opened at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 8:47 AM with the headline "Thousands remain without power through the weekend as Whatcom County begins cleanup."
