The daily Astorian., January 18, 2020, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 13, Image 13

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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JANuARy 18, 2020
Storms cut power in Washington state mountain towns
Associated Press
Keith Thorpe/AP Photo
People navigate the snow-covered Oak Street zig-zag ramp that scales the bluff over downtown Port Angeles on
Wednesday after heavy snow blanketed the city overnight.
SKYKOMISH, Wash. —
Rural mountain communities
outside Seattle that have been
without power for days and cut
off from the outside world by a
series of winter storms saw some
relief as convoys brought in food
and other supplies.
The storms have dumped
several feet of unusual snow
on parts of western Washing-
ton state. As they moved south
Thursday, heavy rain and strong
winds battered parts of Northern
California, while the Lake Tahoe
area braced for heavy snow.
Crews in Washington state
cleared snow, power lines and
trees that had fallen across a
highway leading to small towns
including Skykomish and Bar-
ing, allowing some residents
who had been without power
for nearly a week to leave and
for supplies to be brought in
Wednesday. On Thursday after-
noon, U.S. Highway 2 fully
reopened to all travelers.
Authorities had warned it
could be several more days
before power is fully restored
for hundreds of people in an area
along that highway about 60
miles northeast of Seattle in the
Cascade Range.
“Realistically, I’m not expect-
ing power here for another three
or four days,” Skykomish Mayor
Henry Sladek told the Seattle
Times.
The problem that crews are
facing is that as soon as one
downed power line is repaired,
“another tree comes down and
takes it out again because of
the heavy snow,” Puget Sound
Energy spokesman Andrew Pad-
ula said.
The Washington State Patrol
said it was working with sher-
iff’s deputies to check on people
in those communities and that
the Masonic Temple in Skykom-
ish was providing hot food, sup-
plies and water to residents.
Garry Vire of nearby Gold
Bar, Washington, helped orga-
nize a convoy of SUVs and
four-wheel drive vehicles that
dropped off supplies to people in
need.
“These are my neighbors, my
family. When the call went out
for help, that’s what we did,”
Vire told the Times.
Sarah Sadler headed to Vire’s
town when the highway reopened
Wednesday for “bread, peanut
butter, water. And restocking on
gas, primarily for the generator
and snowmobiles.”
With power out in the tiny
town of Index, she told the Times
that she had been taking food out
of her refrigerator and putting it
in the snow.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
said the state Emergency Man-
agement Division brought food,
water and fuel to the area and
also were offering voluntary
evacuations.
“We will work to provide
whatever these communities
need,” he tweeted.
Farther south, snow also fell
heavily on Snoqualmie Pass, a
mountain pass that carries Inter-
state 90 through the Cascade
Range. The state Department of
Transportation said 80 inches of
snow has fallen since last week,
forcing several closures of Inter-
state 90, a major east-west free-
way in the U.S.
The Seattle metro area didn’t
see much new snow, but on the
Olympic Peninsula northwest of
the city, people were digging out
after getting hit with several feet
of snow. Reports from the coastal
city of Port Angeles were up to 20
inches. North of Seattle, Mount
Vernon got 8 inches, while Ana-
cortes recorded 12 inches.
After several days of freezing
temperatures, warmer weather
will arrive by Saturday, melting
snow but increasing the threat of
flooding, forecasters said.
Heavy, wet snow caused
about 18,000 customers on the
Oregon-California border to lose
power Thursday, according to
Pacific Power. In northern Cal-
ifornia, residents were advised
to stay off roads and check in on
vulnerable family and neighbors.
Highways and streets in San
Francisco, Oakland and Marin
County were flooded.
Just east of the California-Ne-
vada line, schools closed on the
north shore of Lake Tahoe as the
area faced a winter storm warn-
ing until late Thursday.
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