Storms in the Northwest: Thousands Lose Power, Trucks Overturned By Strong Winds

Sean Breslin
Published: November 13, 2015

A large storm system has arrived in the Pacific Northwest, and it's beginning to cause problems for many residents in western Washington.
By midday Friday, some 2,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without power in northwestern Washington as a result of the storms, but those numbers were as high as 6,000 earlier in the day, according to Q13Fox.com. As the storm system arrived Thursday night, wind speeds above 60 mph were recorded in some places, the report added.
(MORE: Check the Forecast for the Pacific Northwest)
Along the coast, heavy rain led to some localized flooding, and river levels were starting to creep up. Parts of the Snoqualmie River were expected to flood during this rain event, KIRO-TV reported. Flood alert levels were escalated, and residents were evacuated along some stretches of the waterway, with the fire department helping some escape rising waters.
After rising more than three feet, the Skokomish River reached major flood stage, KIRO said.

The King County Flood Warning Center was open and monitoring conditions on the river, the report added.

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Skokomish valley rd. Closed for flooding. Lots of water on all of our roads-drive slow and safe

2:35 PM - 13 Nov 2015

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Some schools released students early on Friday and canceled after-school activities due to the nasty weather; KIRO  was keeping a list of all schools affected.
The Bainbridge Island Fire Department reported that wires were down in the 8700 block of Battle Point Drive, knocking out power in the area.
Parts of Montana were also seeing some early effects from this storm system. Winds gusted as high as 91 mph in areas near East Glacier Park, and the Great Falls area saw winds near 60 mph early Friday afternoon, according to local storm reports.
Friday a semi truck was overturned near Browning on U.S. Highway 2, according to NWS. The Great Falls office reported that non-thunderstorm wind damage caused the truck to turn over by Milepost 221.
The powerful winds blowing across parts of Montana have knocked over several other semis in and around Browning, according to KTVQ. There have been no reports of injuries and traffic has been slowed as crews work to upright the trucks.
In the higher elevations, snowfall is expected to increase and big totals could result.
"The Northern Cascades are going to first get the snow, but snow levels are going to crash over the nest 24 hours," said Tom Niziol, winter weather expert at The Weather Channel. "We'll get a big area of snow from the Cascades right down into the Sierra."
This is a developing story; please check back frequently for updates.
MORE: Snow Falls on the West, Plains, Earlier This Week