This browser does not support the Video element.
Tacoma family with medical needs pleads for power restoration
A Tacoma family with critical medical needs struggled for hours without electricity Wednesday, with restoration efforts underway.
TACOMA, Wash. - Over 25,000 Pierce County residents were left in the dark Wednesday night after a windstorm pounded western Washington, with impacts lasting throughout the day.
Local perspective:
Early Wednesday morning, the winds in Tacoma started taking down trees and branches near East M Street and East 56th Street.
"We felt the whole house shake and loud bangs," said Steven Ernst, a Tacoma resident who lost power early Wednesday morning.
Steven Ernst says the massive branch came down on his power lines between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. right next to the home he shares with his medically fragile elderly parents, nephew, and his sister.
Steven and his sister, Beth Ernst, say the family relies on electronic medical devices for survival and the loss of power is impacting their health.
"My dad’s a double amputee, uses lift chairs and stuff to get around the house. We can’t move anything or help him because there’s no power. All that runs off of power. Mom has a nebulizer machine she uses, a heart defibrillator," said Steven.
Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) is responsible for the power at Ernst's address. The family said they were frustrated that their home was not included on the TPU outage map early Wednesday. They say that made it difficult to get updates, and after reaching out to TPU several times on Wednesday, they say they didn't get the answers they needed.
"I sat on hold for over an hour, and they hung up on me. I sat on hold for another 45 minutes before I finally got a hold of someone," said Steven.
"We told them there were medically fragile and disabled people living in the house, and they said there is no priority list, and they will get to it when they get to it," said Beth.
What they're saying:
FOX 13 reached out to TPU spokesperson Mike Halliday. He said typically if people are having an issue like the family is having, they should contact emergency medical services so they can come and help those with specific medical needs.
He says TPU had a call center running on Wednesday until around 8:30 p.m. He says it will resume service Thursday morning.
Halliday says repair crews started work at around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning across the area, and they are trying to restore power to all customers as quickly as they can.
The Ernst family said Wednesday they were hoping power was restored sooner rather than later.
"We’ve been taking people out to the car, turning it on, warming them up, taking them back in the house. Just that whole back and forth," said Beth.
What's next:
By late Wednesday night, TPU crews had swooped in to help restore power to the Ernst family, and things were finally looking up for the family. They told FOX 13 they were grateful for the response.
The Ernst family said their power was restored just before 10 p.m.
By the numbers:
At last check Wednesday, TPU was reporting more than 100 outages, impacting more than 4,000 customers. That number was dropping all evening and was down from earlier in the day when outages were reported at more than 7,000.
MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
New WA laws in 2026 include higher wages, luxury car tax, plastic bag fee hike
Person dead after driving car onto flooded roadway in Snohomish
Snoqualmie ski resort offering season pass rollover for late year start
'Muddy mess': Pierce County RV park residents continue flood clean-up
Wild Waves Theme Park to shut down in 2026
To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.
Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
The Source: Information in this story came from Tacoma Public Utilities and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.