Cleanup, repairs underway after Northwest windstorm

SEATTLE (AP) – Crews have been working to restore power to thousands of residents in Washington and Oregon following a weekend windstorm which toppled trees and power lines around the region.

Puget Sound Energy said Sunday that since the peak of the storm, it had restored electricity to 147,000 customers. It said that as of 2:30 p.m., about 148,000 customers remained without power.

The utility reported downed power lines and poles and substation outages.

Other utilities in the two states also were working to get the power to others.

The National Weather Service in Seattle says the storm brought winds that registered gusts of about 60 mph at Sea-Tac Airport.

Alaska Airlines said it had grounded all its flights between 4:20 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. Sunday after a power outage in the Seattle area, where its operations are based.

Puget Sound Energy reported about 218,000 of its customers were without power as of 6 a.m. Sunday. The company, on its website, said that while it would be working as quickly as possible, some customers could be without power for “multiple days.”

Thousands also were without power Sunday morning in parts of Oregon.

In Oregon, a tree fell and crushed about a half-dozen cars at the London Pointe apartment complex in Tualatin.

In Central Oregon, winds gusted to 40 mph or higher and snow fell over a wide area. A National Weather Service storm spotter north of La Pine reported three inches of snow by mid-afternoon, at an elevation of about 4,200 feet.

Traffic from Mt. Bachelor back to Bend stopped for a time Sunday afternoon after a reported crash on snowy Century Drive as temperatures dropped toward freezing and several cars slid into ditches, according to travelers in the area.