Days after windstorm, over 20K in Snohomish County still without power

EVERETT — About 26,300 customers across Snohomish County and Camano Island still awaited power late Monday after Friday night’s windstorm.

Monday marked the third consecutive day of widespread power outages from the storm that toppled trees and downed power lines, leaving residents to endure several days without electricity or heat.

The Snohomish Public Utility District expected to restore power to about 90% of customers by 11 p.m. Monday, PUD spokesperson Aaron Swaney said. The lingering 10% without power represented about 20,000 customers.

At the peak, as many as 190,000 lost power in Friday’s storm. On Monday, significant pockets of outages remained as crews continued repairs around the clock. Between 20 and 30 crews were expected to work overnight.

On Monday afternoon, crews had restored power to about 1,700 customers near the Navy Support Complex in Marysville, Swaney said. In Arlington, crews restored service to 500 including Arlington High School. In west Lake Stevens, a number of customers near North Davies Road got power back.

Swaney said other big repairs were expected to finish Monday night and restore service to 900 near Center Road in South Everett; 900 near Admiralty Way in Lynnwood; 850 in the Lake Goodwin area; and 500 near Three Lakes Road east of Snohomish.

On Camano Island, crews were expected to restore power to about 2,600 customers.

“I’m feeling much better,” Swaney said on Monday afternoon.

Customers, however, can expect the pace of power restoration to slow in the next few days.

“Every storm gets to this part where the restoration process slows down,” Swaney said, explaining that repairs will bring a couple hundred homes back online rather than thousands.

And some may get their power back while their neighbors still sit in the dark.

“Circuits are complicated,” PUD spokesperson Kellie Stickney added. Homes in an area may not be wired to the same circuits.

In North Everett, Debra King got power back at about 1 p.m. Monday.

“I can’t wait to take a shower,” said the Bayside resident, whose family had a 100-year-old weeping willow crash into their apartment building and shatter windows on Friday night. She called it “absolutely horrifying.”

King kept warm with four comforters and a fireplace during the three-day outage. Her family ate soup warmed by the fire and fast-food takeout.

Kelvin Barton, of Everett, needed power to return so he could take a warm shower before a weekly medical procedure Monday.

Once Barton realized he wouldn’t know when electricity would return to the View Ridge neighborhood, he “drove a long ways” to another home where he could get warm and do the procedure.

An immune deficiency meant he couldn’t visit his daughter, who was ill, or a hotel.

Barton also was dismayed that his call to the non-emergency 911 line didn’t yield information about emergency shelters for people to get out of the cold.

“I’m trying to keep what I have from turning into an emergency,” Barton said.

Temperatures were expected to drop into the mid-30s on Monday night as thousands still awaited power.

Cold weather shelters opened Sunday in Marysville, Snohomish and Monroe. Two shelters opened in Everett on Monday night. A cold weather shelter in Lynnwood had not yet opened, though daily updates can be found at snohomish-county-public-safety-hub-snoco-gis.hub.arcgis.com.

In Everett, cold weather shelters are at 1616 Pacific Ave. and 5126 S 2nd Ave. In Marysville, there’s a shelter at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 7215 51st Ave. NE; in Monroe at New Hope Fellowship Church, 1012 W. Main St; and in Snohomish at Snohomish Evangelical Free Church, 210 Ave. B.

Some schools around the county — in the Arlington, Lake Stevens, Lakewood, Snohomish and Stanwood districts — closed or started late Monday due to the outages and road hazards.

Check outage updates at outagemap.snopud.com.

Herald reporter Ben Watanabe contributed to this report.

Jacqueline Allison: 425-339-3434; jacqueline.allison@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jacq_allison.