SPOKANE — A dust storm that rolled into Spokane on Wednesday afternoon knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses and caused a fire along a busy South Hill road during the evening commute.
Emergency messages blared across cellphones just minutes before a wall of dust driven by wind gusts topping 40 mph blanketed Spokane and communities across the Inland Northwest.
Avista reported 31,472 outages as of 5:25 p.m. Inland Power and Light reported 15,260 customers without power in its service area.
Traffic slowed, trees swayed and pine needles, trash and dirt swirled along streets across Spokane.
A fire near the intersection of Southeast Boulevard and Regal Street added smoke to the dirty air in the Lincoln Heights area. The fire was caused by a downed power line that fell from the high winds, according to Spokane Fire Department spokesman Justin de Ruyter. It sent embers into the air that started spot fires across the street, which neighbors put out with their shoes, he said.
The house behind the ridgeline was threatened, but remained untouched by the flames. Among the reported casualties of the fire: a 12-foot skeleton decoration that glared at motorists from behind a fence that drew scores of comments on social media. The same fence also burned to the ground Wednesday.
Artist Chris Bovey posted on Facebook a picture of one of his vintage neon signs from shuttered Spokane businesses toppled over by the gusts.
The storm was expected to be brief. Weather forecasters warned of thunderstorms in some areas of Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
