Windstorm rips High Desert: Trees down, power out

Winds topping 50 mph raked the High Desert Thursday, downing numerous trees and power lines and leaving thousands of Redmond-area residents in the dark as a powerful storm moved into the West Coast.

More than 10,000 Redmond and Powell Butte customers of Pacific Power were out of service in the early afternoon; get updates here: https://www.pacificpower.net/ed/po/ooi.html

Although the winds knocked out power over a wide area of Redmond, including stores and traffic lights, Redmond School District officials said schools were on normal operations and releasing on normal schedule.

“Due to the severity and widespread nature of the damage, and in some cases, extremely rugged terrain, all local crews have been mobilized and will continue to work throughout the day to restore power to all customers,” Pacific Power said on its outage page (which also listed several other big outages around the storm-ravaged state.)

More than 400 Central Electric Cooperative members also lost power due to downed lines or poles, from Bend to Camp Sherman and Powell Butte to Prineville. Get updates here: http://www.cec.coop/outage/

To the south, Midstate Electric Cooperative reported about 750 members without power, primarily in the Christmas Valley and North Klamath areas. Their update map is here: https://ebill.midstateelectric.coop/oms/outageMap

The National Weather Service in Pendleton issued a high wind warning for the region through 10 p.m., warning of south winds rising to 30-45 mph with occasional gusts to 60 mph — and possibly even higher along ridge lines. They warned travelers to be very careful, and to batten down loose objects such as holiday decorations that “may suddenly become airborne.”

Winds gusted past 50 mph across the region, from Bend and Redmond to Prineville, uprooting or toppling many trees, some blocking roads and downing power or other utility lines.

NWS forecasters said at mid-afternoon that the strong, dangerous winds across a wide area will continue into the evening and are forecast to start to decrease between 5 and 8 p.m., dropping below warning levels by midnight.

Robyn France in Alfalfa said a friend’s ranch had a dozen downed trees and five split.

A Terrebonne resident said the “horrendous” wind was blowing roofing off the wind in Terrebonne is horrendous! Blowing my roofing off, I am so afraid it will blow the tree next door down I am sleeping (night worker) in another room. Power is spotty.

A tree reportedly fell onto a house in Sisters, news partner KBND reported, and power or other lines fell across Camp Polk Road, Goodrich Road near Highway 126 and near 61st and Gift Road, between Bend and Redmond.

The high winds also were causing trouble at Redmond Airport in terms of flight delays, cancellations and diversions to other airports. Travelers were encouraged to check with their air carrier for the latest flight status before heading to the airport.

The airport’s flight status page at http://www.flyrdm.com/?Flight-Status provides direct links to airline arrival/departure status listings, as well as contact information for all air carriers providing service at the Redmond Municipal Airport.

The winds even prompted closure of the Crook County Landfill, where the permit requires closure to the public for safety purposes when winds hit 30 mph.

The High Desert was not alone – as Northern California was hit by heavy rain and flooding, a wide swath of Eastern Oregon also was warned by the NWS that winds could gust to 70 to 100 mph, creating dangerous driving conditions, especially for high-profile vehicles.