POULSBO — Powerful winds that ripped through Kitsap County in the early hours of Thursday caused power outages, school delays, downed trees and closed roads.
In North Kitsap County, damage was minimal, but on Suquamish Tribe lands, a downed tree closed Totten Road. Only local traffic was allowed through.
Traffic lights at Lincoln, Hostmark and Highway 305 were reported out at 7 a.m., but were functioning by 8 a.m.
Traffic was slow along Highway 305 all the way to the Agate Pass Bridge. Most lights on Bainbridge were out Thursday morning.
North Kitsap School District spokeswoman Jenn Markaryan said two elementary schools in the district had a late start due to the power being out.
“We just got the power back at both Vinland and Suquamish (elementary schools),” Markaryan said at about 8:30 a.m. “But they remain on a two-hour late start.”
She said all other schools in the district never lost power and were on a regular schedule.
Gateway Christian Schools in Poulsbo was running two hours late.
Jody Matson, Poulsbo Fire Department community relations specialist, reported that there were no injury calls during the night, but A shift responded to 19 calls between 1:30 and 9:30 a.m.; 11 of them were wind- and power-line related.
“That’s not super bad,” Matson said, “but it is about double our typical call volume.”
Anticipating problems, Battalion Chief Kurt Krech, who is also chief of volunteers, called in volunteers to assist the regular staff.
“These great volunteers worked through the night for free for their community,” said Matson.
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue was busy with calls about downed trees.
“Crews are busy with trees and wires down over roadways across our district,” read NKF&R’s Facebook page.
Poulsbo City Hall was operating as normal on Thursday and had power, Internet and phone service.
In downtown Poulsbo, Hot Shots Java was busier than normal, barista Kara Brown said.
“We’re good,” Brown said. “We opened like normal at 7 a.m. and we have power. There’s more customers today and everybody’s on their laptops.”
Brown said customers commented that they didn’t have power at home and came to the shop for coffee and WiFi.
The shop at 18881 Front St. didn’t have any problems with flooding, either, Brown said. Flooding is common downtown during rain storms.
At Port Gamble General Store & Cafe, the doors were still shut at noon because of no power. Most of the town of Port Gamble had no electricity.
In Kingston, Majestic Mountain Coffee had power and was in full operation Thursday morning. An employee there said all of downtown Kingston had electricity and stores were open.
Deputy Sheriff Scott Wilson, department spokesman, said he hadn’t heard of any incidents where drivers disobeyed “Road Closed” signs.
“I would hope they wouldn’t take that kind of risk,” he said. “It really puts them and our officers in jeopardy.”
Although the winds reached 40 mph in parts of the county overnight Thursday, the National Weather Service said wind gusts had dropped Thursday morning to about 25 mph.
At 3 a.m. Thursday, state highway officials made the decision to close the Hood Canal Bridge.
Prior, at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sea-Tac Airport was in Ground Delay status, which meant all incoming flights that had not taken off from the airport or origin were not allowed to take off, due to wind gusts that were clocked at more than 50 mph. By morning, the airport was back to normal service.
A low-lying area on the Brownsville Highway one mile south of Keyport was closed about 6 a.m. Thursday morning due to flooding over the highway. Water was at least a foot deep and treacherous for anyone doing the 50 mile an hour speed limit through the area.
About 40,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in Kitsap County were without power Thursday noon. Most, if not all, of Bainbridge Island was out, along with 1,073 customers in Seabeck, 1,596 in Chico and 1,558 in the Hansville/Port Gamble area.
A PSE spokesman said crews would be working all day Thursday and into the night to return power as soon as possible to all customers.
Several roads in the county were reported closed Thursday morning, including Delate Road NE near the intersection with Lemolo Shore Drive NE, and Scenic Drive NE at the intersection with Highway 3.
The Kitsap County Administration Building and Courthouse were closed until 10:30 a.m. Thursday due to power being out.
KOMO Weather reported Whidbey Island NAS hit a gust of 65 mph Thursday morning, while Bellingham hit 61, Everett reached 56, Hoquiam hit 54 and Friday Harbor hit 51 mph.
Gusts on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry route hit 44 mph Thursday morning and drivers on the 520 Bridge in Seattle dealt with 48 mph side winds whipping across Lake Washington.
The Port Townsend-Coupeville Ferry run was shut down at 8 p.m. Wednesday night, but resumed normal runs Thursday morning.
Kitsap County Emergency Management officials said there were no plans to open the emergency shelters as of noon on Thursday.
“It doesn’t appear that will be necessary,” spokesman Michele Moen said. “We’re still assessing things and may decide otherwise later in the day.”
She said all public libraries in the county are places where people without heat can go to warm up.
The forecast for Kitsap County for the weekend is for 50 to 60 percent chance of rain and winds to be in the 10 to 15 mph range.
