Ice storm wreaks havoc on power lines along coast

By David Haerle The Daily World • February 15, 2021 4:01 pm

— By David Haerle

The Daily World —

Freezing rain caused scores of power outages across coastal communities in Grays Harbor County Friday night and Saturday as wind and heavy snow whipped through the region for hours.

The National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning for the coast Friday night, meaning daunting conditions for the four Grays Harbor PUD crews dispatched across the region to deal with the scores of outages.

In the wake of the storm, more than 9,000 PUD customers were without power at one point, and some went more than a day before power was restored to most everybody by Sunday.

“It was an interesting night for our crews for sure,” said PUD spokesman Ian Cope, who posted dozens of updates throughout the wee hours of Saturday morning and throughout the weekend via email bulletins and social media sites. “The ice and the frozen rain made for a memorable night for them I’m sure,” Cope added, noting that a veteran crew member said he hadn’t seen any conditions like it since 1997.

Frozen power lines — combined gusty winds — were slapping together all over the coast, causing lights to flicker and power to be interrupted from Tokeland to Taholah, with Ocean Shores perhaps being the hardest-hit town.

In one Ocean Shores neighborhood, the winds and ice combined to topple three power poles at once. Cope said that crews responded to more than 100 incidents of downed power lines and power outages over the weekend.

Compounding all those issues, just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, a vehicle left the road in icy conditions, struck an 80-foot-tall transmission line on State Route 105, knocking out power to about 1,000 households in south Westport, Tokeland and Grayland.

It took PUD crews until late morning Sunday to replace the pole and restore power to those customers, according to Cope.

The hazardous weather conditions sent road temperatures plummeting around the Harbor, making even travel a challenge for PUD crews early on.

The road temperature on State Route 109 at Point Grenville was just 31 degrees at 11 p.m. Friday, according to state Department of Transportation measurements, while road temperatures over Cosi Hill on U.S. 101 were down to 27 degrees at the same hour.