Nine-plus hours — that’s what first responders say was the longest Sequim went without electricity in at least a decade.
Electricity went out twice in the Sequim area around noon and again around 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14.
High winds damaged a Port Angeles tower, Bonneville Power Administration reported, that was temporarily repaired until a transmission corridor went out around 2 p.m., taking power from all of Clallam County.
BPA crews worked through the day and night to restore power around 10:30 p.m. in Port Angeles, around 11:30 p.m. in Sequim, and by Saturday morning in the West End.
A few hundred homes remain without power as of Tuesday morning across the county including several homes in Blyn and scattered around Sequim.
Wind reached upwards of 65 mph in Port Angeles and nearly 30 mph in the Sequim area.
In Port Angeles, city leaders declared a state of emergency.
Nicole Clark, spokesperson for Clallam PUD, said the utility district lost power for about 33,000 of their customers during the storm. She said significant damage was done across the Sequim area, ranging from Carlsborg to Silberhorn Road to the Lost Mountain area to Blyn and to Diamond Point.
Jeanette Mackfay, a renter for 10 years on the 200 block of Secor Road off River Road, wasn’t home when her home took a hit. A tree branch in her yard snapped and fell in front her porch, appearing to miss damaging the heart of the home. However, Mackfay’s daughter Tracy Giesbers said there is structural damage mostly to the pitch and porch and some to the main home.
“We aren’t sure yet if it goes all the way to the foundation or not,” she said.
“The contractors will be out either late this week or early next week to start repairs. She will be without power for at least a week or more because the lines were ripped completely out of the house.”
Here we come a-sailing-away
Ty Brown, City of Sequim operations manager, said “Sequim got lucky, overall.”
The biggest — or tallest issue — for city crews was when the Christmas tree in Downtown Sequim blew over, Brown said.
He said a large amount of ornaments blew off and volunteers redecorated it on Monday and Tuesday. Because of the fall “it’s seven feet shorter than it was before,” Brown said, after crews shortened damaged portions.
Clallam County Fire District 3 reports there weren’t any major incidents during the outage.
Other issues for the fire district, however, ranged from securing downed power lines to switching oxygen tanks to removing someone from a struck elevator, Fire Chief Ben Andrews said.
Fire crews also helped the City of Sequim establish an Emergency Operations Center at the Sequim Transit Center during a portion of the outage.
Staff Sgt. Sean Madison with the Sequim Police Department said they established the center around 4 p.m. because the estimated time of the outage was unknown.
He said city and fire crews activated their plan to continue services, such as keeping generators and communications going.
“It was a great exercise for us,” Madison said. “I was really impressed with it.”
With phones down, Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush was unable to reach Sequim city councilors — so police officers went to each of their homes to debrief them on the outage and city’s plan, Madison said.
Madison said residents generally behaved themselves during the outage.
“No one was taken advantage of and the lack of traffic control on Washington Street wasn’t a problem,” he said. “People drove courteously, but I think that’s just the community of Sequim.”
City staff and fire crews closed the Emergency Operations Center at about 7 p.m.
“We treated it like it was the emergency it was and we were prepared,” Madison said. “I think we’re ready for the worst.”
Hospital response
During the outage, Olympic Medical Center ran on backup generators on Friday.
OMC CEO Eric Lewis said staffers’ “priority was to ensure our hospital was fully functional for our inpatient units and emergency services – including surgery.”
Staffers rescheduled non-essential services.
“This did cause inconvenience for patients scheduled for non-urgent surgery or procedures in the hospital,” Lewis said. “However, it was necessary to preserve our resources for life safety, inpatient and emergency needs given that the length of the power outage was initially unknown.”
He said the impact on clinical patients was fairly nominal and they closed their clinics in the mid-afternoon.
“Our outpatient clinic staff did a great job of promptly calling patients to reschedule their appointments, while also following through seeing patients already in the clinics,” Lewis said.
OMC staff activated its internal incident command structure to monitor the power outage, Lewis said, which included maintaining staffing levels, generators, and providing resources like flashlights.
“I am very impressed with how staff at Olympic Medical Center handled the power outage,” he said.
“Before incident command mobilized, our employees were already going into emergency mode by preparing downtime procedures, arranging schedules with staff to ensure coverage, verifying resources and taking steps to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and fellow staff members.”
Staff remained calm and professional, Lewis said, and provided safe, quality medical care through the outage.
Next steps
With severe damage mostly west of Sequim, the Clallam County Sheriff’s office continues to assess damage costs to see if Clallam County is eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance.
The Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station at 3501 W. 18th St., opens through Saturday, Dec. 29, to accept storm related debris, such as tree limbs and small trees 4 inches or smaller in diameter, at no cost customers.
Clallam PUD customers experiencing an electrical outage or issue can call 360-452-9771 for assistance.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Winds toppled the Christmas tree at the northeast corner of Washington Street and Sequim Avenue on Dec. 14. City of Sequim crews said due to damage, they removed seven feet of height from the tree before re-positioning it. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
A tree branch fell within a few feet of smashing on a home on the 200 block of Secor Road on Dec. 14. No one was home during the storm, but the tree did severely damage the porch and some of the roof. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Large trees blocked a portion of East Silberhorn Road near the Little League Park on Dec. 14. Nearby homeowners reported sporadic outages in the area. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
A tree branch fell within a few feet of smashing on a home on the 200 block of Secor Road on Dec. 14. No one was home during the storm, but the tree did severely damage the porch and some of the roof. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
