Scattered strong winds swept the Vancouver and Portland area Tuesday, downing trees onto power lines and toppling them onto vehicles.
Gusts reached speeds of 28 mph at Portland International Airport and were between 30 and 45 mph closer to the Columbia River Gorge, according to Liana Ramirez, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
A strong wind gust Tuesday morning caused a 30-foot tree to topple and land on a pickup in Vancouver’s Village at Fisher’s Landing neighborhood.
Larry Moen said that strong winds hit his neighborhood around 10 a.m., causing a tree that has been on his property for at least 23 years to blow onto his son’s truck.
“It was really howling here,” Moen said.
Power in north Clark County was briefly disrupted when a tree limb fell onto a power line about 11:30 a.m. The outage involved 1,182 customers in the Amboy area, though crews restored power within 15 minutes, said Clark Public Utilities spokeswoman Erica Erland.
Wind in the Portland area also caused a tree to fall across Highway 43 about 1,000 feet south of the Sellwood Bridge, according to Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen. The downed tree, which took some power lines down with it, was reported about noon Tuesday.
Ramirez said that the soil in the region was likely saturated due to the recent heavy rains, contributing to the downed trees. She said another weather system is expected to hit the region toward the end of the week, with temperatures dropping near freezing this weekend.
