Windy weather caused a handful of power outages that affected thousands Tuesday and prompted the cancellation of the preschool program at Harmony Elementary School.
A wind advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Portland on Monday, set to begin at 10 p.m. and expire at 7 a.m. Tuesday, was updated to expire at 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Vancouver, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, Washougal, Yacolt and Amboy were among the affected communities, which also included the Portland metro.
East winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts of 35 to 45 mph were predicted, according to the advisory.
Emergency shelters set
For the first time this season, the weather is prompting the opening of emergency shelter beds. Council for the Homeless issued a severe weather alert Monday that lasts through Thursday night.
The alert asks emergency shelters to expand capacity if possible and says there will be limited additional beds available. Living Hope Church at 2711 N.E. Andresen Road will provide overnight shelter tonight and Wednesday night beginning at 7:30. Walk-ins are welcome all night.
Those seeking shelter should contact the Housing Hotline at 360-695-9677, which accepts calls 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The Vancouver Navigation Center at 2018 Grand Blvd. is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for those seeking a place to get out of the elements during the day.
“Tree limbs and even a few large trees could be uprooted. Isolated to scattered power outages can be expected,” the advisory said.
Trees did indeed fall throughout the county, including a sweet gum tree that damaged two vehicles in the Carter Park neighborhood of west Vancouver.
Clark Public Utilities spokeswoman Erica Erland said in an email there were a total of seven outages overnight scattered across the county that affected about 3,500 customers. The outages were mainly in eastern and northern parts of Clark County, Erland said.
“As of this morning, we were down to a handful of customers still out of power,” Erland said Tuesday.
The utility had restored power to 3,416 customers by 7 a.m., but there were still small pockets, mainly in rural and residential areas, without power.
By evening, the utility reported it had restored power to 6,513 customers. There were no reports of fresh power outages as of 6 p.m.
There were reports of trees into power lines in Washougal, east Vancouver and north Clark County near Lewisville Regional Park as the first windstorm of the fall moved across the region.
The Southwest Washington Child Care Consortium canceled its before-school care at Harmony Elementary School due to a power outage. No other school closures occurred.
The outages continued into the late morning. About 1,400 customers in the Orchards area lost power around 10 a.m. due to yet another tree falling on electrical wires, according to the utility’s outage map. Power was quickly restored, however.
“The wind is still blowing so we’re rotating our folks home to rest as they wrap up the work overnight and will be continuing to respond to outages as they occur through this weather event,” Erland said shortly before noon.
Today’s forecast calls for clear skies and a high near 51 degrees. Expect subfreezing temperatures and an east/northeast wind with gusts as high as 22 mph tonight, according to the weather service.
