Cleanup begins as winds, rains slowly subside

SEATTLE -- Wet, windy weather was reminiscent of November blazed through the Puget Sound Sunday night, knocking down tress and power lines while thoroughly soaking anyone who dared step into the rain.

Now as the wind and rain dies down, the cleanup begins.

Puget Sound Energy crews worked to get power back to the more than 10,000 customers who were without power at 6 a.m. Monday morning. One hundred and seven different outages effected a wide range of customers; with as many as 7,000 customers near Orting losing power around 5 a.m. Monday morning as bad weather knocked two substations off line. Schools in Orting were closed Monday following the outage.

Two thousands customers in Skagit County and nearly 1,000 in Kitsap rounded out the counties in the area with the highest number of outages.

PSE is fully staffed, officials said, as the hurricane-force winds that hit the area Sunday night were well predicted.

"PSE crews are going from one location to another to restore power," officials said.

Only around 100 customers in the Seattle were without power, but downed trees and limbs, as well as heavy rain hindered traffic around the area early Monday morning.

Winds and rain were expected to be largely out of the area by Monday evening. But high-altitude mountain snow and some thunderstorms were expected.

Mason County PUD officials said more than 1,700 customers were without power around 4 a.m. on the Tahuya Peninsula west of Belfair. The number has dropped since Sunday night, when more than 3,500 customers in Mason County were without power.

For more information on PSE or Mason County PUD power outages, click here.

Residents reporting a power outage should call 1-888-225-5773