Bend thunderstorm winds topple trees, knock out power
A thunderstorm blasted parts of Bend with winds gusting to 50 mph or more Sunday evening, toppling several large trees and knocking out power to hundreds of homes, but police said no injuries were reported.
One of the thunderstorms rumbling north through the area was accompanied by an “outflow” of winds gusting to an estimated 50 mph at Pine Nursery Park, according to a National Weather Service employee. The Bend Airport east of town reported a gust of 26 mph around the same time.
The brief but intense windstorm sent a large Ponderosa pine tree toppling in front of the main entrance to the Bend-La Pine Schools Education Center and headquarters in downtown Bend, also damaging the concrete steps beside it.
Other trees fell along Northeast Jones Road in Bend, and Pacific Power reported 340 customers lost power as a result, with repairs expected to take until 10:30 p.m. You can track their outage map on their Website.
The winds also knocked down four trees at Hollinshead Park, closing the park for the rest of the day. The Bend Parks and Recreation District said it will evaluate the damage and do clean-up work on Monday.
Deschutes County 911 dispatchers said the winds blew over some Bite of Bend vendors’ booths as the annual downtown festival was wrapping up.
The NWS issued a red flag warning for the region until 11 p.m. Sunday for hot, dry conditions and again from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday for more thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds.
NewsChannel 21’s Michaela Beechem said temperatures soared to record or near-record upper 90s to lower 100s around the region and were expected to stay warm well into the night.
Redmond hit a record high for the day of 102 degrees, breaking the old June 25 mark of 101, set back in 1968.
A 20 percent chance of scattered rain or thunderstorms raises to 50 percent Monday, though temperatures will cool a bit, with highs in the upper 80s.
Beechem and Pedro Quintana will have an update on the storm aftermath and the Local Alert Weather forecast at 10 on Fox and 11 on NBC, and Bob Shaw and Samantha O’Connor will start off the week at NewsChannel 21 at Sunrise.
