UPDATE (5:30 p.m.) Around 3,000 Bothell and Kenmore residents are still without power.
UPDATE (4:10 p.m.): Nearly 5,000 Bothell and Kenmore residents are still without power according to Puget Sound Energy’s outage map. According to the City of Kenmore, the power company hopes to restore power in the city by tonight.
UPDATE (2 p.m.): Puget Sound Energy outage maps indicate power has been restored to around 3,000 more Bothell and Kenmore residents, bringing the number of customers without power to around 7,200.
Northshore School District is reporting power has been restored to five more schools today, with 10 elementary and four junior high schools still without power. The district will decide whether to open schools tomorrow based on updates from work crews.
The University of Washington Bothell has cancelled all classes and activities for the remainder Wednesday. The southern portion of campus is still without power. Administrators are hopeful it will be restored tonight.
The Bothell Fire Department responded to 29 calls yesterday, city spokeswoman Barbara Ramey said. She said Bothell Police responded to 83 calls yesterday, with six of them being storm-related.
Bastyr University was reported to have lost power, prompting the campus to close around 3 p.m. yesterday. Classes were cancelled today and power remains off on campus situated in Kenmore’s Saint Edwards State Park.
More than 10,100 Bothell and Kenmore residents remain without power today, down from more than 15,000 yesterday according to Puget Sound Energy’s outage map. Statewide, more than 215,000 people were without power across the area according the the National Weather Service Seattle branch.
All schools within the Northshore School District have been closed today, and all extracurricular activities cancelled after a severe wind storm blew across the state yesterday, which uprooted trees, knocked out power and caused at least two deaths in western Washington.
Twenty of the district’s 31 schools lost power yesterday, which serves the cities of Kenmore, Bothell and Woodinville in King and Snohomish Counties, school district spokeswoman Leanna Albrecht said.
Nineteen schools remain without power this morning, including 13 elementaries, four junior highs and two high schools, Albrecht said.
Four trees fell on Bear Creek Elementary School in Woodinville during the storm with crews working to remove them. No injuries were reported, and damage was said to be minimal as the trees did not puncture the roof.
Westhill Elementary School in Bothell was evacuated temporarily due to electrical smoke coming from bathrooms in the administration building. Albrecht said the fire department investigated and cleared the school for reentry other than the administration building.
Support and technical staff are combing district schools for debris, cleaning school interiors and checking power sources and computer networks.
“We were up late and we’re up early. We’re running on coffee,” Albrecht said.
Albrecht said the extent of power outages makes it unlikely the district will reopen tomorrow, though they are waiting on a report from work crews around noon to gauge progress.
“District crews are working to prepare schools to welcome students and we appreciate all the efforts of the power company working to restore power to our schools,” Albrecht said. “We will keep families notified in the event that we have additional closures.”
Automated phone calls will be sent to parents at 6 a.m. informing them if schools will be closed tomorrow.
Several roads in Bothell remain closed this morning including Northeast 190th Street between 92nd Avenue Northeast and 90th Place Northeast. Valley View Road from 108th Avenue Northeast to the back gate into the University of Washington Bothell. The 9200 block of Northeast 188th Street is also closed, according to the city website.
Puget Sound Energy and Potelco crews continue to work on issues at Northeast 190th and 188th Streets.
Power outages affecting traffic signals caused long back-ups along westbound State Route 522 near Kenmore, forcing unlit intersections to operate as four-way stops all across the region.
Bothell city officials reported that City Hall lost power during the wind storm and has since been restored. A Bothell City Council meeting slated for last night was postponed until next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Kenmore City Hall was reporter to be running on backup power, though email services were down as of Wednesday morning.
The University of Washington Bothell also lost power, but power to the north side of campus has been restored as of this morning. Classes remain cancelled until 3:30 p.m. today. The university has not decided whether night classes will be held in the library.
Statewide, the Washington Emergency Management Division reported major flood levels at the Stillaguamish River at Granite falls with water on the roads and flooding expected in the Silvana areas near Arlington.
Major flood warnings are under effect for the Snohomish River near Monroe and Snohomish according to the National Weather Service.
According to the National Weather Service Spokane branch, gusts of wind of up to 77 mph were reported in Spangle. Gust of up to 116 mph were reported at Ski Mission Ridge by KXLY out of Spokane.
Winds in Bothell were expected to reach gusts of up to 44 mph and sustained winds of around 31 mph according to the National Weather Service.
