Wintry weather brings post-Christmas power outages to Sequim

Jack Frost nipped at many Sequim residents’ doors and took their electricity too in a white, wintry Christmas weekend blast.

According to Clallam PUD’s outage map, there were 13,442 customers without electricity at the peak of outages on Dec. 26 largely in Sequim and some in Port Angeles.

At 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nicole Hartman, communications manager for Clallam PUD, reported that the Happy Valley Line going down affected about 12,700 customers. However, about three hours later most customers were restored aside from fallen tree branches on lines and other isolated incidents in Blyn, Diamond Point, Taylor Cutoff Road and the 3 Crabs Road areas.

By Monday night, nearly every customer was back online, according to the outage map.

“Crews worked around the clock,” Hartman said.

In some parts of Sequim, snowfall continued into early Tuesday with up to a foot of snow accumulated in the higher areas.

Temperatures in the area — depending on elevation — dipped to the mid-to-high teens.

The National Weather Service predicts 1-3 inches of more snow on Thursday, Dec. 30, with temperatures dipping to the low 20s.

Hartman told the Peninsula Daily News on Sunday that the substation serving Sunland kept tripping the breaker as workers attempted to re-energize it.

Some residents reported their power had come and gone twice, and Hartman said when power came back on in certain areas it was too much for certain systems and overloaded them.

She suggested homeowners consider turning off their water heater breaker during an outage and when power is restored leaving it off for about an hour to reduce the load on the local system.

For additional information during outages, Hartman said locals can tune to 91.5 KSQM for updated information, and to prepare for outages, she recommends going to ready.gov/power-outages. To report outages, call 360-452-9771 and see outage maps at clallampud.net.

First responders

Across the county, first responders reported no serious injuries in multiple road incidents over the Christmas weekend.

Trooper Katherine Weatherwax with Washington State Patrol reported 89 collisions between five District 8 counties on Sunday with six in Clallam (three of those reported at the same incident) and three in Jefferson counties.

“All of the collisions in Clallam were non-reportable (and) just driving too fast and slid into a ditch or in the snow,” Weatherwax said via email.

Sgt. Amy Bundy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies responded to about 25 incidents from Christmas Day to Monday afternoon related to the weather ranging from vehicles in ditches to welfare checks to traffic hazards to collisions.

Of significance was a wreck involving an Olympic Ambulance at Hendricksen Road in the City of Sequim, and a wreck with a FedEx truck by Deer Park Loop east of Port Angeles.

Bundy said no one was seriously injured in the incidents.

Sequim Police Department Sgt. Dave Campbell said officers responded to seven collisions from Dec. 25-27 with no serious injuries.

Fire Chief Ben Andrews with Clallam County Fire District 3 said they responded to 17 incidents on Christmas Day with two motor vehicle wrecks and one power line falling into a tree; and 27 incidents on Dec. 26 with one wreck, and six security alarm malfunctions due to power outages.

Where to stay warm in Sequim

With Clallam County plunged into cold temperatures, county and other local officials warn that individuals are at risk when spending time outdoors, even in the daytime. The Olympic Peninsula has a number of warming locations:

• OlyCAP’s warming center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave.; 9 p.m.-7 a.m. through Dec. 31

• Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday (closed New Year’s Day)