Storm knocks out power to more than 100,000
Had my power restored a couple of hours ago. How's everyone else doing?
SEATTLE - Thousands of people in Western Washington are without power due to a strong windstorm. The WSDOT closed the SR 520 floating bridge for two hours because of high winds and waves. Troopers reported that they saw the bridge swaying four to five feet.
Troopers said as many as 50 cars were abandoned on the westbound lanes. Troopers on foot escorted the people back to their cars.
The Department of Transportation said criteria for closing the bridge to traffic and opening the draw span is 50 mph gusts sustained for 15 minutes. When a 40 mph gust is sustained for one minute, a warning alarm calls crews to the bridge for inspection and monitoring.
DOT says they make every attempt to reduce disruption to drivers but in an emergency they have to close the bridge quickly.
Puget Sound Energy said more than 50,000 customers are without power in various parts of Western Washington. The utility said strong winds were taking down branches and trees, triggering the outages. Seattle City Light reported outages affecting about 40,000 customers.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Windstorm-causes-downed-trees-power-outages-230345401.html
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