Strong winds overturned trees in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene regions on Wednesday, knocking out tens of thousands of people when meteorologists reported the second highest gusts recorded at Spokane International Airport.
The chaos also killed a woman in her forties after a tree fell on her car in 27th Avenue and Post Street near Comstock Park, said Brian Schaeffer, fire chief of Spokane.
Another woman trapped by a tree in her home on 63rd Avenue was rescued by firefighters from the city of Spokane and Spokane County Fire District 8, Schaeffer posted on Twitter shortly after 6 p.m.
For households without power, the storm is expected to be a possible ‘multiple event’, David Howell, director of Avista Utilities, said on Wednesday. By Wednesday night, Avista’s outage showed that about 51,000 households in the Spokane area were still without electricity.
The persistent rumble of winds Wednesday morning was suppressed by loud blows and accidents on Spokane’s South Hill, littered with fallen trees and cut-off power lines that forced some residents to evacuate and businesses to close.
A massive pine tree was uprooted and fell shortly before 07:00 on 28th Avenue near Division Street. With a smell of natural gas lingering in the air, firefighters evacuated the entire block for about an hour while neighbors sheltered the temporarily displaced residents. Around 8:30 a.m., most residents of the block were allowed back into their homes.
“No one was hurt,” Bryce Thomas said in the area. “It just got in the way, and I think it’s as good as it can get.”
Many of the trees along Manito Boulevard just south of 29th Avenue were torn from the ground.
One in front of Regeena Fine’s house was uprooted and scattered across the lawn, but spared her house – and the free library for it. She had hoped to send her children to school, where it would be safer, but learned that the school had been canceled.
Despite the tree falling in their lawn, neighbors Pat and Sue Dalton agreed that it was less severe than the 2015 storm, but still worse than expected.
“We were really lucky,” Pat Dalton said.
Schaeffer agreed that the storm was not as severe as that of 2015, although Wednesday’s storm caused “significant damage.”
“The overall emergency relief system has at some point exceeded its maximum, and many of the non-preferential calls have been queued to be completed when we could add resources to the system,” he said. Schaeffer said.
Firefighters had to deal with everything from homes that were structurally damaged to people getting stuck in elevators, Schaeffer said.
For the more than 20,000 households without electricity in Coeur d’Alene, repairs could take longer than in Spokane after crews waited for the storm to look at problem areas, Howell said.
On the South Hill, the status of power varied almost block by block.
Rocket Market on High Drive had to close early due to a power outage, but businesses not far south of 57th Avenue were operating without interruption. Traffic signs on the corner of 37th Avenue and Grand Boulevard were out, but still function in other parts of South Hill.
The strong wind was expected to last at least 3 p.m., Howell said. However, according to the National Weather Service in Spokane, the storm was between 4am and 7am.
‘The storm hit with the greatest rage just as the morning shuttle began. The city’s top priority is to respond to security issues today; please be extremely careful, ”said Mayor Nadine Woodward in a statement.
An unofficial speed of 71 km / h was recorded at Spokane International Airport, which brought the second highest on record, documented during the wild storm of November 2015. The highest point is 77 mph during a thunderstorm in June 2015.
“We see gusts of 50 to 65 km / h,” said Charlotte Dewey, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Spokane.
The damage from the storm was also evident in the southern neighborhoods of Spokane Valley. The top of one tree appears to have broken off from the roof of the McDonald Elementary School. Along University Road near 22nd Avenue, a tree falls on top of a house, roots fall out from under the sidewalk and catches a power pole on the way down.
A tree blocks a tree in East 21st Avenue, right next to Dennis Rae’s home. The tree fell from the garden across the street on Wednesday morning, leaving Rae’s house barefoot.
Rae, who has lived in the area since 1959, said trees that fall in that area are common in such conditions.
“Pine trees generally have a pretty good taproot that runs deep,” he said. ‘But when we move in and give people water (their lawns), the root system does not have to go that deep to get the water, so it’s a shallow root. If the ground is damp and the wind is blowing like that, it can overthrow trees. ”
Rae, who ‘saw a fair amount of trees coming and going’, said he was a little worried about the others surrounding his property.
“But you can not predict what will happen, or where it will happen,” he said. ‘
The recent heavy rains loosened soil in the Spokane area, making it easier for the trees to uproot, meteorologists said.
Temperatures will drop from the recent above-average highs to the mid-30s, closer to the 34 degrees normal for this time of year.
“It will be a little calmer for us,” Dewey said.
Public safety officials have asked people to stay home if they can. Parks officials have asked citizens to stay out of parks until the wind calms down and debris can be cleared. According to the city, there was shelter available for those who are homeless.
According to the Washington State Patrol, trees blocked several local highways.
Avista said customers need to prepare for long power outages and that assessments can take longer than 24 hours.
Discarded or damaged power lines should be considered active and left alone.
The 911 dispatch center in Northern Idaho was raided after more than 400 calls were received in which trees and other weather conditions fell off, the sheriff in Kootenai County said.
Power outages
Avista reported hundreds of outages in about 8 hours and left more than 70,000 customers without power. Just an hour later, the crew began to recover the power, and it decreased to less than 68,000 customers without power.
Inland Power & Light reported that more than 16,500 of its customers were without power in its coverage area at 09:00, including in the provinces of Spokane, Lincoln, Bonner, Whitman and Stevens. Nearly half of Bonner province’s customers were without power on Wednesday.
Vera Water and Power, which serves portions of Spokane Valley, has about 2,500 customers without power from 7:30 p.m. With the score up to 2,000 by noon, Vera asked customers to prepare for a prolonged outage that could last several days.
Modern Electric Water Company in Spokane Valley disrupted 4,000 outages just around 7:30 a.m., with all but ten repaired at 4 p.m.
Kootenai Electric Cooperative reported 4,900 without power at 09:00 Northern Lights Inc. in northern Idaho reported about 11,200 without power.
Closures and changes
Spokane Public Schools, along with Central Valley School District, Cheney School District and Medical Lake School District, announced closures for both personal and virtual school on Wednesday morning. The Davenport School District has announced that it will continue online learning.
Later Wednesday, SPS announced on Twitter that all personal, distance education, Express child care, day camps and meals will be canceled on Thursday, due to the widespread interruptions and many schools still without power.
According to a news release from the district, the public schools of Coeur d’Alene would be remote on Wednesday. Gray-and-go meals at Canfield, Lakes and Woodland High Schools have been canceled.
The University of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho College canceled classes, both in person and online, while Whitworth University delayed the opening until noon. Most classes for the year have not yet started at Gonzaga University; however, law students continued with distance education.
Meanwhile, Spokane County District Court has been closed due to the weather.