Gusty winds and heavy rain battered Western Washington as a powerful storm system began moving in Tuesday, toppling trees, triggering traffic mayhem and knocking out power to thousands even before the main brunt of the storm arrived.
That tree above landed on a Metro bus just before 10 am today. The route 331 runs near Shoreline Community College. "The driver was the only occupant," according to Sergeant Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office, and she was taken to the hospital "with neck and back pain."
According to Seattle City Light's Outage Map, there are 17 concurrent power outages right now in the city, affecting an estimated 1,181 customers. But regionally, the number is far greater. "Puget Sound Energy reported about 29,000 customers without power as of noon in areas all across the region, and the number was expected to fluctuate as the winds increase in intensity throughout the day," KOMO reports. Moreover, "In Snohomish County, outages were affecting nearly 7,000 homes in east Tulalip, Marysville, Gold Bar and the Lake Stevens area."
Seattle City Light has good advice here about what to do if your power goes out, and also how to prepare for a possible power outage. Number one: "Never touch or approach a downed wire or anything in contact with the wire."
If you're hunched up somewhere warm and dry and with power, stay there.
