High winds knock out power, topple trees across the Basin
EPHRATA — Winds gusting to 50 mph swept across the Columbia Basin today (Wednesday, Dec. 17), knocking over trees, power poles, and a semi truck near Coulee City.
This morning, the National Weather Service issued a hazard advisory for much of central and eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Forecasters said southwest winds ranging from 20 to 45 mph were expected across the region with gusts of 50-65 mph in some areas and isolated gusts to 75 mph.
In Facebook posts, Grant PUD officials said repair crews were responding to over 40 outages throughout the county with many poles and electrical wires blown down. “Please assume all wires are live and stay at least a school bus length away,” the utility district advised.
At 7 a.m., the PUD said known power and fiber-optic outages due to high winds were reported in the substation areas of Silicon/Parker Springs, Pelican Horn, Bassett Junction, and the Larson base near Moses Lake along with the Blue Lake area near Coulee City. By mid-afternoon, the district said crews had made “great progress” in restoring power with about two dozen scattered outages remaining around Grand Coulee, Moses Lake, and Quincy.
“Our crews work as fast as they safely can,” officials said in an updated post at 4:30 p.m.. “No estimated restore time, yet. Hang in there, please, and hope for a quiet night.”
The Washington State Patrol was notified around 4:40 a.m. Wednesday that a semi truck and trailer had wrecked on State Route 155 about two miles northeast of Coulee City due to high winds.
Troopers said Scott P. Rogers, 58, of Deer Park, was driving north when he lost control of a 2023 Freightliner tractor and utility trailer, which rolled. Rogers, who was wearing a seatbelt, sustained unspecified injuries but was able to call and notify authorities about the accident. He was transported to Coulee Community Medical Center in Grand Coulee.
In its advisory, the Weather Service cautioned that travel would be difficult for “high profile vehicles.”
