135,000 Homes Lost Power in Snohomish County

The “Bomb Cyclone” certainly made its way through Snohomish County, leaving 74,000 homes without power this morning.

On the school front: Lake Stevens, Snohomish, and Granite Falls are closed, plus Mukilteo elementary schools; others in the area, including Monroe, are on a two-hour delay.

The PUD wrote this at 5:44 am:

Crews worked overnight to restore power across the county. There are currently 74,159 outages, down from a peak of 135,000 outages at around midnight.

We have a total of 35 Line, Serviceman, and Tree crews out working. Damage is extensive, with the hardest hit areas being Lake Stevens and Snohomish.

Many downed trees on roads are making travel difficult. Restoration efforts may take multiple days. Thank you for your patience. Our crews will continue to work until power is restored for all. Next update will be at noon.

Here’s a link to the current Snohomish PUD outagemap: https://outagemap.snopud.com/

Everett Fire responded to a number of events, including a fire started by candle last night.

Here are their candle tips:

• Keep candles at least 12″ away from anything that can burn.
• Extinguish candles when leaving a room or going to bed.m
• Make sure candles are in a stable holder and place them where they can not be knocked down easily.
• Consider using flashlights or battery-operated flameless candles instead.

Everett Public Works shares these tips:

• Avoid downed electric power lines, utility poles and trees.
• Turn off the stove if you’re cooking when the power goes out and turn off natural gas appliances.
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed to keep food frozen for up to two days.
• Treat dark traffic signals as all-ways stops.
• Be sure to check on your neighbors, especially the elderly or disabled, and keep pets secured.
• Do not approach fallen power lines! They could carry enough electricity to prove fatal. Stay at least 30 feet away and call the PUD at 425-783-1001 to report the location. If the situation is life-threatening (such as on top of an occupied car), please call 9-1-1.
• Never operate a generator indoors.

For those using generators today, here is more on that topic:

According to PGMA, the only safe place to use a portable generator is outside and far from any occupied dwelling. This requires planning for the distance and having the right amount of extension cords to bring power to a dwelling space. Don’t cheat the distance out of desperation.