Wind impacts power and roads across Whatcom County on Wednesday
Strong winds buffeted Whatcom County on Wednesday, knocking out power to about 2,000 homes and businesses in scattered outages, according to the Puget Sound Energy website.
Wires were blocking Mount Baker Highway at 10:44 a.m., according to the emergency services app Pulse Point.
“Mount Baker Highway is closed from East McLeod Road to Britton Road due to a downed power pole and lines. PSE on scene — at least five-hour closure,” Bellingham Police tweeted. “Traffic being re-routed.”
PSE’s website showed that more than 800 customers were without power in the Van Wyck area northeast of Bellingham from that incident.
Arcing wires were reported on Railroad Avenue, Pulse Point said.
PSE’s online outage map showed 750 customers without power along North State Street from Laurel to York streets.
At 2 p.m., sustained winds were 31 mph and gusting to 46 mph, according to measurements at Bellingham International Airport.
Wind chills hovered around 30 degrees.
Flights continued normally at the airport, according to the Port of Bellingham website.
National Weather Service forecasters in Seattle issued a high wind warning through early Thanksgiving Day for northeast winds at 25 to 45 mph, gusting to 60 mph. A gale warning was posted for the Puget Sound region.
Environment Canada posted a similar alert for southwest British Columbia in the face of strong winds barreling out of the Fraser Valley.
Areas most at risk were in northwest Whatcom County, including Lummi Island, north Bellingham, Ferndale, Blaine, Lynden and Sumas.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Wind impacts power and roads across Whatcom County on Wednesday."
