Here we blow again: New windstorm rakes region
The second bout of intense winds in recent days was pummeling the High Desert on Monday, toppling more trees and power lines, as forecasters warned gusts could approach hurricane strength.
The National Weather Service ended its high wind warning for the region around 6:15 p..m., having predicted southwesterly winds 30-40 mph “with local and sudden gusts to 65 mph.” They also said the “strongest winds will likely occur in the Bend area.”
And indeed, Bend Airport reported a 53 mph gust by about 11:30 p.m. Winds had gusted to 41 mph at Redmond Airport, 31 mph at Madras Airport and 40 mph at Prineville Airport. A weather station at Lava Butte, south of Bend recorded a peak gust at 57 mph late Monday morning, according to the NWS.
The winds knocked down trees that in turn brought down three segments of power lines that cut service to more than 1,300 Pacific Power customers in Deschutes River Woods south of Bend late Monday morning.
By early afternoon, the utility estimated it could take until 4 p.m. to restore service. Later, crews restored power to about 700 of the homes, but it took until 10:45 p.m. for the last customers to get service back. Track updates on this and other large-scale outages around the state at https://www.pacificpower.net/ed/po/ooi.html
Riverwoods Drive also was closed between Pawnee and Winnebago due to the downed lines, until repairs are complete, Deschutes County officials said.
Trees and/or power lines also were reported down in at least two locations in the resort community of Sunriver, near Beaver Drive and Dixie Mountain Lane, and in the La Pine area as well, on Huntington Road
Track any outages in the Central Electric Cooperative area at http://www.cec.coop/outage/ and Midstate Electric Cooperative has a map of current outages at https://ebill.midstateelectric.coop/oms/outageMap
The new buffeting comes as many are still cleaning up from the windstorm late Thursday and early Friday that brought 50 mph winds or higher to many locations and downed dozens of trees and power lines.
NewsChannel 21 Chief Meteorologist Bob Shaw said it’s the last very blustery, somewhat rainy day “before high pressure builds in and brings us a string of fair days.” He said the high winds would gradually decrease to 10-15 mph by morning.
See the latest conditions on our weather page at http://www.ktvz.com/weather — send us 1-2 of your best storm-related photos to stories@ktvz.com (with who took it, where and when), talk about it and share photos on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KTVZ21 — and tune in tonight at 5 and 6 for the latest information and Local Alert Weather forecast from Travis Knudsen.
