A windstorm brought trees down and caused power outages Tuesday in Clark County.
In Oregon, the storm also killed a pregnant woman, whose sport-utility vehicle was crushed by a tree Tuesday morning near Oxbow Park east of Portland, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.
Clark Public Utilities reported electricity outages around Clark County throughout the day. By around 4 p.m., fallen trees and damaged power lines left 1,900 customers around Battle Ground, Hockinson, Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Amboy and Yacolt without power. Power had been restored to nearly all of them by Tuesday night.
Winds at Pearson Field started to increase by midmorning, with a gust of 26 mph recorded in the 9 o’clock hour and 30 mph in the noon hour. As of 8 p.m., the National Weather Service reported peak wind gusts of 36 mph at Pearson Field in Vancouver, 36 mph in Hazel Dell, 34 mph near Salmon Creek, 36 mph in Orchards and 46 mph in the Battle Ground area.
100-foot maple falls
The weather service in Portland had issued a wind advisory for Tuesday, warning of potential downed trees and power outages.
Maggie Stone, 67, was sitting at home in her house northwest of Daybreak Park on Tuesday morning when a strong gust of wind blew open her door just before 10 a.m., she said.
“I was stunned for a while,” she said. “It happened within seconds. … It startled me, and I got up. The wind was just howling around the house.”
She went outside and found that a 100-foot big-leaf maple that stood about 25 feet from her home had fallen over. Luckily, she said, it fell away from her house.
“I’m on a hill. Thank goodness it fell down the hill,” she said.
Fallen trees blocked state Highway 503 near Fargher Lake for several hours. In Battle Ground, city workers closed a section of Northeast 10th Street between Grace and 17th avenues because of a downed tree and power lines.
The National Weather Service reported that weather watchers also spotted ½-inch diameter hail in eastern Clark County.
