Story Published:
Feb 6, 2006 at 7:01 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 2:12 AM PST
SEATTLE - Most people who lost power during a weekend wind
storm had their electricity back on in time to watch the Super
Bowl, but utility crews were still scrambling to restore power to
some customers on Monday.
One storm-related death was reported.
Passenger trains were cleared to start running again from
Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia, and from Portland, Ore., to
Spokane, Wash., Monday afternoon, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae
Graham.
But the route from Seattle to Portland was to remain shut down
as a safety precaution until Tuesday evening because of a mudslide
south of Tacoma.
Portland was serving as the northern terminus for Amtrak's Los
Angeles-Seattle route during the closure, and Amtrak said it was
providing bus service between Seattle and Portland until the route
reopened.
Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe
railroad, said maintenance crews cleared the slide 23 miles south
of Tacoma on Sunday evening, and freight trains continued running.
Late Monday morning, Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Lynn Carlson
said about 3,000 homes and businesses had no power, most of them on
the Kitsap Peninsula west of Seattle. By evening, she said most of
the lingering outages had been restored. "We're just cleaning up
now," Carlson said.
At the peak of the storm on Saturday, downed trees and power
lines left about 140,000 Puget Sound Energy customers with no
electricity west, northwest and south of Seattle.
Puget Sound Energy, Western Washington's largest private
utility, said crews were summoned from British Columbia, Eastern
Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California and Nevada to make sure as
many Seahawks fans as possible could watch the Super Bowl on their
own television sets Sunday.
Early Monday afternoon, Seattle City Light spokesman Larry Vogel
said power had been restored to all but roughly 80 of 20,000
Seattle customers who lost power over the weekend.
North of Seattle, the Snohomish County Public Utility District
said it had restored power to most of about 30,000 customers who
lost power.
As the storm intensified Saturday morning, the Washington 520
floating bridge linking Seattle to its eastern suburbs was closed
to traffic during 50 mph winds that gusted to 75 mph.
The draw span was opened to allow water to pass through the
middle of the Lake Washington bridge, reducing the potential for
damage. It reopened to traffic early Sunday.
The storm caused minor damage to the bridge's mechanical span
system and repairs were needed before it could be reopened, state
transportation officials said.
The last time the bridge was shut down during a storm was in
March 1999.
The mudslides kept Sound Transit's Seattle-to-Everett commuter
train from running Monday morning. Sound Transit spokesman Lee
Somerstein said service was resuming north of Seattle Monday
evening.
On Saturday, high water, heavy winds and a mudslide north of
Seattle prompted a 48-hour shutdown of passenger rail service.
The same day, three cars of a freight train in Eastern
Washington derailed near 45 miles west of Spokane, halting both
freight and passenger traffic. Freight trains started running that
route on Sunday, and Amtrak said it had cleared the route for
passenger trains Monday.
The cause of that derailment and another in the same area in
late January remained under investigation.
There was one storm-related death reported Saturday. A woman
died when a tree struck the car she was driving on Washington 4
near the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum county line in southwest Washington.
The skies cleared on Sunday, and forecasters said the dry
weather was expected to continue for the rest of the week.