Bomb cyclone causes outages across Sequim, Clallam County

Sequim’s rain shadow didn’t entirely protect it from the bomb cyclone that hit the Pacific Northwest.

Several thousand Clallam PUD customers in the Sequim area lost power for portions of Nov. 19, including households in Carlsborg, Dungeness, and Agnew due to high winds bringing down trees.

A bomb cyclone, or bombogenesis, occurs when a midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies over 24 hours and has a drop in pressure, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Local outages were first reported shortly after 2 p.m. Nov. 19 near Hooker Road in Carlsborg, and on O’Brien Road east of Port Angeles and shortly thereafter restored. However, a few hours later, 8,400 customers lost power from the Dungeness River to East Port Angeles, according to the PUD.

At the storm’s peak, more than 12,000 households, or more than one-third of its accounts, had lost power in Clallam County, according to the PUD’s Outage Map on Nov. 19.

State media outlets report more than half-a-million households lost power due to the storm in Washington.

Nicole Hartman, communications and government relations manager for Clallam County PUD, told the Peninsula Daily News that Clallam County’s outages were a result of fallen trees that had hit power lines.

PUD crews couldn’t immediately access the West End outages in Neah Bay, Sekiu and Clallam Bay due to mudslides closing Highway 112, she said.

However, by the afternoon of Nov. 20, PUD crews gained access and dealt with the outages to restore power to county customers.

Washington State Department of Transportation reports that the seven miles of roadway was reopend Nov. 22.

In the Sequim area, Paul Bucich, Sequim Public Works Director, said via email, the city experienced minor incidents of water on roadways and some branch cleanup.

The city’s Water Reclamation Facility had a power bump, he said, but it was settled by 9:30 p.m. Nov. 19.

“We did not need to call out staff to address problems from the storm overnight,” Bucich said.

In Carrie Blake Community Park, park staff had cut up or removed some fallen trees the day of the storm, or had removed them earlier in the year.

Clallam County Fire District 3 staff report firefighters had 26 calls for service on Nov. 19, but few calls after 7 p.m. and nothing related to the storm.

Less intense winds hit the area on Nov. 22 with a tree falling on U.S. Highway 101, one mile east of Gardiner, around 2 p.m. when civilians cut and removed the tree for traffic.

A gull makes its way through a group of wigeons on Nov. 20 in the Albert Haller Playfields after high winds and heavy rains hit Sequim.

A gull makes its way through a group of wigeons on Nov. 20 in the Albert Haller Playfields after high winds and heavy rains hit Sequim.

Bell Creek flows quickly on Nov. 20 through Carrie Blake Community Park and by the Sequim Dog Park.

Bell Creek flows quickly on Nov. 20 through Carrie Blake Community Park and by the Sequim Dog Park.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Bell Creek flows quickly on Nov. 20 through Carrie Blake Community Park following the bomb cyclone storm that hit the West Coast and caused power outages across the state.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Bell Creek flows quickly on Nov. 20 through Carrie Blake Community Park following the bomb cyclone storm that hit the West Coast and caused power outages across the state.