Saturday, Nov. 23 – 6:00 p.m.

Updates for customers

Crews were out in full force today, focusing on the neighborhood distribution lines that serve smaller pockets of customers. They are reporting additional damage at many locations, which will need to be repaired as well. Much of this work is time-consuming and slow-going, as it requires extensive work yet restores power in much smaller numbers, such as to 5, 10, or 20 customers at a time.

As more and more neighborhoods are energized, some customers may feel like they are being left in the dark. If you’re seeing neighbors with their power on, it’s likely that they’re served by a different circuit that has been restored.

We know many of you are wondering what is happening in your area. As crews get onsite, they will be entering more specific information about restoration times on the outage map. This may take time as we still have nearly 900 locations with damage.

Being without power is incredibly disruptive and gets harder as time goes by. We know this is so hard on all of our customers—we are working around the clock to restore power to you.

For examples of the extensive damage our crews are working to restore, check out photos posted on PSE’s social media channels: Facebook / Instagram / Flickr / X

Saturday, Nov. 23 – 3:00 p.m.

Updates for customers

Progress continues throughout the day with over 150 crews in the field working to restore power. So far, we’ve restored almost 90 percent of our customers’ power since the onset of the storm.

Now that we’ve completed repairs to nearly all transmission lines and substations, our focus is on the neighborhood distribution lines serving smaller pockets of customers. This repair work is often time-consuming and slow-going, as it requires extensive work yet restores power in much smaller numbers, such as to 5, 10, or 20 customers at a time. We still have nearly 1,000 individual damage points on the system that we’re working to repair, which collectively takes time.

As more and more neighborhoods are energized, some customers may feel like they are being left in the dark. If you’re seeing neighbors with their power on, it’s likely that they’re served by a different circuit that has been restored. Please know we’re working around the clock until all customers are restored.

For examples of the extensive damage our crews are working to restore, check out photos posted on PSE’s social media channels: Facebook / Instagram / Flickr / X

Saturday, Nov. 23 – 12:00 p.m.

Updates for customers

As of 12 p.m., 80,000 customers remain without power, and more than 150 crews will be in the field today working to restore power. We will be prioritizing bringing the remaining schools back online and moving from neighborhood to neighborhood to repair distribution-level outages. We added more new crews overnight and also have crews wrapping up restoration efforts in other parts of our service area moving in to provide additional support to King County.

Crews made steady progress restoring power to customers overnight. Since the onset of the storm, we’ve restored power to more than 570,000 customers and brought all hospitals back online. We have nearly completed work on our high-voltage transmission system and repaired 47 of 49 substations – this work was necessary to complete so that power can reach your community.

While we’re making progress, the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm has made our work slower than expected, and we had to push back estimated restoration times for customers yesterday evening. We know that you are disappointed to be without power for this extended period. We appreciate your patience—we are working as hard as we can to restore your power as quickly as possible.

Updated restoration times are as follows:

• Saturday at 12pm PST
• Sunday at 6pm PST
• Monday at 10am PST

These restoration times are now reflected in the outage map. When a crew arrives onsite to your outage, the estimated restoration time you are currently seeing will be updated to reflect the crew’s assessment of the work necessary to restore your service.

For examples of the extensive damage our crews are working to restore, check out photos posted on PSE’s social media channels: Facebook / Instagram / Flickr / X

Community presence in hard-hit areas

Today, PSE will have two info resource hubs where customers can get basic support, including charging for small devices, Wi-Fi, water, coffee, light snacks and information from PSE staff. Please note that these staff have the same restoration information available as the outage map and cannot provide individualized customer restoration info.   

Hours are: 10-5, Saturday, November 23 
In the parking lots of the following locations:

• Maple Valley Fred Meyer located at Maple Valley Town Square
  26520 Maple Valley Black Diamond Rd SE, Maple Valley
• Kent Fred Meyer 
  10201 SE 240th St, Kent 

 

We will also be at warming shelters set up by our community partners, where customers can connect with PSE staff to help with questions they have.

These locations are:

• Warming Shelter - Issaquah Senior Center / Hours are 10 - 5
  75 NE Creek Way, Issaquah
• Warming Shelter- Renton Highlands library  / Hours are 10 - 5.
  2801 NE 10th St, Renton

 

Saturday, Nov. 23 – 10:00 a.m.

Updates for customers

As of 10 a.m., 85,000 customers remain without power, and more than 150 crews will be in the field today working to restore power. We will be prioritizing bringing the remaining schools back online and moving from neighborhood to neighborhood to repair distribution-level outages. We added more new crews overnight and also have crews wrapping up restoration efforts in other parts of our service area moving in to provide additional support to King County.

Crews made steady progress restoring power to customers overnight. Since the onset of the storm, we’ve restored power to more than 570,000 customers and brought all hospitals back online. We have nearly completed work on our high-voltage transmission system and repaired 47 of 49 substations – this work was necessary to complete so that power can reach your community.

While we’re making progress, the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm has made our work slower than expected, and we had to push back estimated restoration times for customers yesterday evening. We know that you are disappointed to be without power for this extended period. We appreciate your patience—we are working as hard as we can to restore your power as quickly as possible.

Updated restoration times are as follows:

• Saturday at 12pm PST
• Sunday at 6pm PST
• Monday at 10am PST

These restoration times are now reflected in the outage map. When a crew arrives onsite to your outage, the estimated restoration time you are currently seeing will be updated to reflect the crew’s assessment of the work necessary to restore your service.

For examples of the extensive damage our crews are working to restore, check out photos posted on PSE’s social media channels: Facebook / Instagram / Flickr / X

Community presence in hard-hit areas

Today, PSE will have two info resource hubs where customers can get basic support, including charging for small devices, Wi-Fi, water, coffee, light snacks and information from PSE staff. Please note that these staff have the same restoration information available as the outage map and cannot provide individualized customer restoration info. 

In the parking lots of the following locations:

• Maple Valley Fred Meyer located at Maple Valley Town Square 
  Saturday, November 23 , 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  26520 Maple Valley Black Diamond Rd SE, Maple Valley
• Kent Fred Meyer 
  Saturday, November 23 , 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  10201 SE 240th St, Kent 

We will also be at warming shelters set up by our community partners, where customers can connect with PSE staff to help with questions they have.

These locations are:

• Warming Shelter - Issaquah Senior Center 
  10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  75 NE Creek Way, Issaquah
• Warming Shelter- Renton Highlands library  
  10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  2801 NE 10th St, Renton

Saturday, Nov. 23 – 6:00 a.m.

Customer Updates

Updated estimated restoration time was posted to pse.com Friday November 22, to inform customers who are still waiting for their power to be restored. Due to the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm, which has made our work slower than expected, we had to push back estimated restoration times for customers.

Updated PST restoration times are as follows:

• Saturday at 12pm
• Sunday at 6pm
• Monday at 10am

We understand it can be frustrating waking up to ongoing power outages in the cold. For customers looking for resources, please check for information from 211, your local jurisdictions or media sources:

• KUOW - How to find warmth, electricity, and other storm resources in the Seattle area
• List: Shelters, warming centers open in western WA | king5.com

PSE will have two info resource hubs where customers can get basic support, including charging for small devices, Wi-Fi, water, coffee, light snacks and information from PSE staff. Please note that these staff have the same restoration information available as the outage map and cannot provide individualized customer restoration info.

In the parking lots of the following locations:

• Maple Valley Fred Meyer located at Maple Valley Town Square 
  Saturday, November 23 , 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  26520 Maple Valley Black Diamond Rd SE, Maple Valley
• Kent Fred Meyer 
  Saturday, November 23 , 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  10201 SE 240th St, Kent 

We will also be at warming shelters set up by our community partners, where customers can connect with PSE staff to help with questions they have.

These locations are:

• Warming Shelter - Issaquah Senior Center 
  10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  75 NE Creek Way, Issaquah
• Warming Shelter- Renton Highlands library  
  10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  2801 NE 10th St, Renton

Progress updates

• All major hospitals have been restored. We are now prioritizing schools as a focus in order to support school districts hoping to return to full operation on Monday.
• All repairs on transmission lines that PSE owns and are directly related to customer impacts have been completed. Klahanie is the only remaining location where transmission line repair needs are continuing to impact customers; this section is owned and operated on the BPA side. We are coordinating with BPA on the repair effort.
• Additional crews are coming into the King County region as other regional storm bases have now closed. All available resources will be allocated to the King County area as we finish restoration for our remaining customers still without power.

Friday, Nov. 22 – 11:59 p.m.

Updated ETRs

To our customers without power:

We know it has been a difficult three days. And we have some hard news to share for some of our customers. Due to the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm, which has made our work slower than expected, we have to push back estimated restoration times for customers.

We will have three restoration times:

• Saturday at 12pm
• Sunday at 6pm
• Monday at 10am

We are in the process this evening of updating our outage map with the estimated restoration times for your outage. We are working as hard as we can to get power restored to you sooner than the times listed above. As our field crews gain more detailed information about your outage, we will update the outage map with a more specific time.  

We know this is disappointing as you expected to have your power back on tomorrow.  We are trying to give customers as early notice about this change as we can, with the information we have currently.  We encourage you to continue to check the outage map for your estimated restoration time. 

Progress we have made and conditions we are encountering

We have made significant progress on our high voltage transmission system. Since the beginning of the storm, we have repaired over 300 miles of transmission lines in some of the most difficult to access terrain in western Washington. While we still have transmission work to do, this progress is allowing us to bring more and more of our crews to your communities. We have now restored power to almost 500,000 customers over the past three days, but we still have slightly over 100,000 customers left. These customers are almost all located in King County, which bore the brunt of the hurricane force winds.  

Work is slower than usual because of the severity of the damage that we are still encountering. In North King County alone, there are about 90 large jobs that still need completed as of this evening. This is likely to grow as we do more on-the-ground line inspections.   

We have over 150 crews working to restore power to customers, including a dozen new crews joining us this evening from other utilities. As crews finish work in one area they are reassigned to the next priority.

We hear your frustration and understand how incredibly impactful this setback is to your lives. We are disappointed that we could not meet the 12:00 p.m. Saturday restoration for all of our customers. Please know we are all working to help restore power to every customer as soon as possible.

Friday, Nov. 22 – 9:30 p.m.

To our customers without power:

We know it has been a difficult three days. And we have some hard news to share for some of our customers. Due to the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm, which has made our work slower than expected, we have to push back estimated restoration times for customers.

We will have three restoration times:

• Saturday at 12pm
• Sunday at 6pm
• Monday at 10am

We are in the process this evening of updating our outage map with the estimated restoration times for your outage. We are working as hard as we can to get power restored to you sooner than the times listed above. As our field crews gain more detailed information about your outage, we will update the outage map with a more specific time.

We know this is disappointing as you expected to have your power back on tomorrow. We are trying to give customers as early notice about this change as we can, with the information we have currently. We encourage you to continue to check the outage map for your estimated restoration time.

Friday, Nov. 22 – 12 p.m.

System-wide:

• We’ve made significant progress restoring transmission and substations are getting back online, crews are finding extensive damage to local distribution lines that need to be repaired before power can be restored.
• In King County crews are saying the damage is comparable to the worst storms of past decades.
• We are aware of an issue with our outage map. It is not reflecting all of the customers whose power has been restored, and is not showing a set of customers who are still without power. Our internal systems for identifying outages and prioritizing restorations are still functioning. The map issue appears to stem from a technology change-over for the mapping system that was implemented this fall. We know it is frustrating for our customers, and we are working hard to reconcile the data showing on the map. We ask that you continue to report outages if needed. Our crews will continue to work around the clock until the last customer is restored.

King County:

• The Sammamish Plateau, Hobart/Maple Valley, Issaquah experienced large/dense tree failures and extensive damage to poles, arms, twisted wire. There is more frequent coordination between tree and line crews to resolve the damage, and the damage is so much more extensive that our ability to switch load around has been quite limited when compared to the lesser hit communities.
• Breakers are closing and substations are getting back online, but we are finding a lot of damage on the Eastside and Southern end of Lake Sammamish. We are finding a lot of damage in the Issaquah Highlands. Even for areas that have underground power, there might be damage to other sections of the line, delaying restoration.
• Communities like Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland, Bellevue, Auburn, and Federal Way are showing much more progress in restoration owing to less intense winds and mostly limb-on-line faults, small wire damage, and limited structure damages.
• North Bend was spared significant damage and is largely picked up despite seeing some of the most intense wind of the storm – We have done a lot of proactive and focused vegetation management around our power lines in 2024 and it appears to have really helped the community.
• This is one of the areas where we have had flexibility to switch loads around damage and that has really helped pick up priority services to hospitals and schools – whether through their normal feeds or alternate feeds from adjacent circuits.

North King crew status:

• 17 transmission crews
• 25 crews focused in Fall City, North Bend, Carnation
• 20 focused in Issaquah Hobart, Renton area
• 30 additional crews scattered throughout the North King area
• 20 Public Safety teams

South King:

We’ve been watching the weather and easterlies have definitely picked up, registering gusts of 42mph in Enumclaw, 26mph in Des Moines. The increasing winds have caused a bit more outage activity in the King, Pierce, and Kitsap areas but nowhere near the magnitude of the Tuesday storm. Things seem to be holding up.

Enumclaw:

• Although the substation is back on-line as of yesterday (11/21), has suffered significant pole damage.
• Crews were able to power the substation by back feeding through Krains Korner. This will allow work on the distribution system to continue, in order to restore our customer's power.

Crew status

• 8 transmission crews
• 12 focused on Enumclaw area
• 5 focused on Hobart area
• 23 crew scattered throughout S. King area
• 15 Public Safety teams in place

Kitsap and Northern: ETR 11/22 6pm

• Kitsap and Northern regions are looking strong. Both regions have enough crews to cover unassigned work to start the daylight hours. Crews will gradually free up and re-deployed to King county. The most impacted area in Kitsap we’ll finish is Indianola/Miller Bay home to our Suquamish population, and that is the first focus for several crews starting their day.

Northern Crew Status

• 18 total crews working
• 3 transmission crews

Kitsap Crew Status

• 13 total crews working
• 3 transmission crews
• 5 focused in Kingston
• 8 scattered through the county

Friday, Nov. 22 – 6 a.m.

As of 6 a.m. we have 166,464 customers out. In the past 24 hours, we’ve restored power to an estimated 120,000 customers.

A message to our customers was sent through several channels yesterday. Please see the letter here.

We understand it can be frustrating waking up to continued power outages in the cold. For customers looking for resources, please check for information from 211, your local jurisdictions or media sources:

• KUOW - How to find warmth, electricity, and other storm resources in the Seattle area
• List: Shelters, warming centers open in western WA | king5.com

PSE will have two info resource hubs where customers can get basic support, including charging for small devices, Wi-Fi, water, coffee, light snacks and information from PSE staff. Please note that these staff have the same restoration information available as the outage map and cannot provide individualized customer restoration info.

Hours are: 10-5, Friday, November 22

In the parking lots of the following locations:

• Maple Valley Fred Meyer located at Maple Valley Town Square
  26520 Maple Valley Black Diamond Rd SE, Maple Valley
• Kent Fred Meyer
  10201 SE 240th St, Kent

We will be also at warming shelters set up by our community partners, where customers can connect with PSE staff to help with questions they have. These locations are:

• Warming Shelter - Issaquah Senior Center
  75 NE Creek Way, Issaquah, WA 98027

As damage assessment and field work continues today, estimated restoration times will be updated on our outage map at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app. In addition to crews, we have a full complement of damage assessment teams, road crews, tree crews and hundreds of support staff;

• For most remaining customers in Pierce County, the outages are impacting small pockets of customers that have individual estimated restoration times.
• For customers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Kitsap Counties we anticipate power will be restored by 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22nd.
• For the majority of customers in King County, we expect to restore power by noon on Saturday.
  • Damage is heaviest in King County, which was hardest-hit and where we continue to assess the impact.

Active wind gusts are predicted in the forecast for some parts of our service area Friday early morning, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

Friday, Nov. 22 – 12 a.m.

Progress continues

We understand how challenging and frustrating it is to be without electricity, especially during the cold weather when staying warm is even more difficult. Please know that our field crews and hundreds of logistical and support staff are working around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.

A message to our customers was sent through several channels yesterday afternoon. Please see the letter here.

We have made progress on bringing back more transmission lines – the larger lines that bring power into communities, 20 of which have been brought back online over the course of Thursday.

Please continue to report your outages through the myPSE app or our outage map if you receive a notification that you have been restored but remain without power. This can happen when substations that serve you are energized, but damage still exists on the lines in local neighborhoods.

We understand the technical challenges we’ve had with our texts and outage map has been frustrating but please be assured that we have teams of people actively managing this outage-related technology and correcting the issues.

• For most remaining customers in Pierce County, the outages are impacting small pockets of customers that have individual estimated restoration times.
• For customers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Kitsap Counties we anticipate power will be restored by 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22nd.
• For the majority of customers in King County, we expect to restore power by noon on Saturday.
  • Damage is heaviest in King County, which was hardest-hit and where we continue to assess the impact.

Active wind gusts are predicted in the forecast for some parts of our service area Friday early morning, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

Thursday, Nov. 21 – 6 p.m.

Progress continues

Throughout the day crews made steady progress restoring power to customers impacted by Tuesday’s windstorm. 18 transmission lines, 42 distribution circuits and 15 substations were put back on-line today. These important pieces of infrastructure bring back on sometimes thousands of customers at once. Today we’ve seen the most progress with restoration of power to our schools, critical infrastructure and medical facilities. However, we understand that for those still affected it remains incredibly challenging, especially with the cold conditions. For customers needing support, please check with your local government or call 211 to find warming shelters and other resources. King 5 also has this list of resources.

A message to our customers was sent through several channels this afternoon. Please see the letter here.

The high winds and resulting tree damage not only downed the smaller, local power lines, but also damaged transmission lines – the larger lines that bring power into communities. Crews are steadily bringing transmission lines back online; this is an important step before crews can focus on the local distribution system. Please note that there will be temporary spikes in outage numbers as those systems are energized so you may see numbers go up and down on the PSE outage map as the process occurs. In some cases, customers may receive a notification that their power is restored when substations are energized – if you are still without power, please report your outage through the myPSE app or our outage map.

Work will continue around the clock until every customer has power restored. We have the equipment and materials that are needed for the type of outages that can be caused by high winds. As crews finish work in one area, they are assigned to repair damage in another.

For remaining customers in Pierce and Thurston County, we anticipate power will be restored to the majority by 11:59 p.m. today. As more specific restoration times become available, we will be updating the outage map. 

• For customers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Kitsap Counties we anticipate power will be restored by 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22nd. 
• For the majority of customers in King County, we expect to restore power by noon on Saturday.
• Damage is heaviest in King County, which was hardest-hit and where we continue to assess the impact. We dispatched helicopters again this morning to support this assessment in order to more quickly see the specific needs for our crews.  With daylight, and some crews coming off much needed rest, we anticipate making good progress today.

More active weather is in the forecast for tomorrow, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

 

Thursday, Nov. 21 – 2 p.m.

Letter to our customers

To our customers without power: we know you are frustrated. The limited information we have been able to provide on-line, and the fact that you do not yet see our crews working in your neighborhood, is causing you to wonder what is happening.

This system was so strong that it was comparable to a hurricane and did unprecedented damage to our high-voltage transmission system – the poles and wires that carry electricity from where it is produced to the communities we serve. Without fixing those lines first, we cannot get power back into many neighborhoods. Much of this work takes place in hard to reach, remote parts of western Washington.

We have 143 line crews working around the clock – 3.5 times what we have usually, thanks to crews from other utilities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Canada.

We do know there is work to do on the distribution lines that run through neighborhoods and we will get to that work as soon as possible. We have been prioritizing critical community assets like schools and hospitals.

We plan to have the majority of customers back online by Saturday at noon. Many customers will have power restored sooner. However, we don’t have more specific information for many of our customers at this time, particularly in King County, which was most impacted by the storm, because of the extent of damage on the transmission system. As soon as we have estimates we can count on, we will share them immediately.

Here’s an update on the progress we have made since Wednesday night, and what we are doing now:

• We restored 34 substations with 15 remaining out of service. Substations serve about 5,000 customers each. As we re-energize these substations, more customers should get their power back on at a faster pace. As we restore these substations, that may also show us where there is additional damage that we could not fix until the substations were turned back on. In some cases, work on the distribution lines was already completed and customers will have their power restored when the substation is energized. For others, ground patrols will identify the location of distribution damage and complete the needed repairs.
• Overnight, we restored 5,300 customers per hour. As of Thursday morning, we restored power to more than 315,000 customers including more than 60 schools.  
• In addition to the line crews, we have 70 tree crews whose sole job is removing the dangerous and downed debris so our line crews can restore power. As you have witnessed in this storm, there is a tremendous amount of work for these crews.
• In total, we have brought in more than 1,000 support personnel from outside PSE to help with restoration, in addition to mobilizing all our PSE teams and resources.

We are closely watching additional windy weather forecasted to hit our region Friday. This may impact our ability to restore customers in the expected timeframe and cause additional outages. We will continue to work around the clock in full force until power is restored to every single customer. Please be respectful of the workers doing everything they can to restore your power. There is nothing more important than the safety of our communities, customers, and employees.

 

Progress continues

Throughout the morning crews made steady progress restoring power to customers impacted by Tuesday’s windstorm. Notably, power has been restored to an additional 10 substations and 9 transmission line segments allowing restoration of power to many schools, critical infrastructure and medical facilities. However, we understand that for those still affected it remains incredibly challenging, especially with the cold conditions. For customers needing support, please check with your local government or call 211 to find warming shelters and other resources. King 5 also has this list of resources.

The high winds and resulting tree damage not only downed the smaller, local power lines, but also damaged transmission lines – the larger lines that bring power into communities. Crews are steadily bringing transmission lines back online; this is an important step before crews can focus on the local distribution system. Please note that there will be temporary spikes in data as those systems are energized so you may see numbers go up and down on the PSE outage map as the process occurs.

Work will continue around the clock until every customer has power restored. We have the equipment and materials that are needed for the type of outages that can be caused by high winds. As crews finish work in one area, they are assigned to repair damage in another.

For remaining customers in Pierce and Thurston County, we anticipate power will be restored to the majority by 11:59 p.m. today. As more specific restoration times become available, we will be updating the outage map.

• For customers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Kitsap Counties we anticipate power will be restored by 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22nd.
• For the majority of customers in King County, we expect to restore power by noon on Saturday.
• Damage is heaviest in King County, which was hardest-hit and where we continue to assess the impact. We dispatched helicopters again this morning to support this assessment in order to more quickly see the specific needs for our crews. With daylight, and some crews coming off much needed rest, we anticipate making good progress today.
• More active weather is in the forecast for tomorrow, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

 

Thursday, Nov. 21 – 6 a.m.

Hear from Puget Sound Energy President and CEO Mary Kipp on the significant November storm damage and restoration efforts underway.

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Progress continues

Overnight, crews made steady progress restoring power to customers impacted by Tuesday’s windstorm, restoring more than half the total customers who’ve been affected since the start of the storm. However, we understand that for those still affected it remains incredibly challenging, especially with the cold conditions. For customers needing support, please check with your local government or call 211 to find warming shelters and other resources. King 5 also has this list of resources. We are working around the clock and will continue to do so until every customer is restored.

Crews have been able to restore power to 57 schools with known power outages over the last two days, with continued efforts to restore remaining schools, medical facilities and hospitals. The high winds and resulting tree damage not only downed the smaller, local power lines, but also damaged the larger transmission lines – the larger lines that bring power into communities. Crews are beginning to bring transmission lines back online; these lines need to be brought back into service before crews can focus on the local distribution system. Please note that as transmission comes online, there will be temporary spikes in data as those systems are energized, you may see numbers go up and down on the outage map as the process occurs.

Work will continue around the clock until every customer has power restored. We have the equipment and materials needed for the type of outages that can be caused by high winds. As crews finish work in one area, they are assigned to repair damage in another.

• For customers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Kitsap Counties we anticipate power will be restored by 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22nd.
• For remaining customers in Pierce and Thurston County, we anticipate power will be restored to the majority by 11:59pm today. As more specific restoration times become available, we will be updating the outage map.
• For the majority of customers in King County, we expect to restore power by noon on Saturday.

Damage is heaviest in King County, which was hardest-hit and where we are still assessing damage. We are dispatching helicopters this morning to assess damage to more quickly see the specific needs for our crews. With daylight, and some crews coming off much needed rest, we anticipate making good progress today.

More active weather is in the forecast later in the week, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

 

Wednesday, Nov. 20 – 11:59 p.m.

Damage assessment and restoration efforts continue

We understand the stress and disruption that outages can cause for you and your family and that it's especially challenging on cold days and nights. We continue our around-the-clock work to restore your power due to Tuesday’s damaging windstorm.

As of 11:59 p.m., we have 298,294 customers out of power, with more than 297,566 customers restored since the start of the storm. However, due to extensive wind and equipment damage, power for some customers may be out for an extended period. We are updating our outage map with the best information available and will continue to provide updates as restoration continues. Please note that outage numbers will fluctuate as restorations are occurring throughout the system. Our focus overnight continues to be on transmission lines to critical infrastructure and public safety. Our PSE dispatch team has fielded over 2,000 escalated 911 calls since Tuesday afternoon.

Our first step in restoring power is damage assessment: getting a look at what’s been done to the system and determining the extent of repairs that are needed. Crews continue to survey damage on the ground overnight and helicopter patrols will resume tomorrow morning. On Wednesday, helicopter patrols spent 9 hours in total flight assessing our transmission lines for damage. We will provide restoration updates through our outage map at pse.com/outages as information becomes available.

On Wednesday we brought in an additional 30 crews, bringing our total to 139 crews now supporting restoration efforts. Some of these crews come from other utilities from Washington State, British Columbia, Idaho and Oregon. Support from these agencies ensures that PSE restores power to our communities as soon as possible and it takes hundreds of logistical team members to support these crews.

Nearly half of our hospital and medical facilities with known outages have been restored as of this evening.

More active weather is in the forecast later in the week, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there is new damage to the system.

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Wednesday, Nov. 20 – 6 p.m.

Damage assessment and restoration efforts continue

Crews and hundreds of support staff continue their around-the-clock work to restore power to those who remain out as a result of yesterday’s damaging windstorm.

As of 6 p.m., we have 354,733 customers out of power. Power has been restored to more than 170,000 customers since the start of the storm. However, due to extensive wind and equipment damage, power for some customers may be out for an extended period. We are updating our outage map with the best information available and will continue to provide updates as restoration progresses. Our focus for tonight continues to be on transmission lines to critical infrastructure and public safety.

Crews continue to survey damage on the ground and helicopter patrols will resume tomorrow morning. Our first step in restoring power is damage assessment: getting a look at what’s been done to the system and determining the extent of repairs that are needed. We will provide restoration updates as information becomes available.

Crews from other utilities from Washington State, British Columbia, Idaho and Oregon have all shown up to assist in the repair of our electric system. Support from these outside agencies ensures that PSE restores power to our communities as soon as possible.

Estimated restoration times will be updated on our outage map at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they become available. We know that long outages are incredibly difficult, especially during these colder months, and we appreciate your patience as we work to restore power as quickly and as safely as we can.

More active weather is in the forecast later in the week, with the potential for additional outages. We are prepared to respond if there are new outages.

 

Wednesday, Nov. 20 – 3 p.m.

Damage assessment and restoration efforts continue

Crews and hundreds of support staff continue their around-the-clock work to restore power to those who remain out as a result of yesterday’s damaging windstorm.

As of 12 p.m., we have 385,098 customers out of power and we have restored over 190,000 customers since the start of the storm. Our focus today is on transmission lines and substations powering critical infrastructure, including hospitals, and supporting public safety.

Our first step in restoring power is damage assessment: Crews are surveying damage via helicopter and on the ground looking at the damage to the system and determining the extent of repairs that are needed. We will provide restoration updates as information becomes available.

Due to the severity of the storm and complexity of the damage to PSE infrastructure, including multiple transmission lines, substations and distribution circuits, we anticipate a multiple day outage and encourage customers with critical needs to make alternate plans as we work to assess the situation and restore power.

Estimated restoration times will be updated on our outage map at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they become available. We understand this can be very frustrating to lose power for longer times, and we are thankful to our customers for their patience as we work to repair critical needs first.

Wednesday, Nov. 20 – 6 a.m.

The windstorm caused extensive damage to our system late afternoon yesterday and into last night. As of 5:20 a.m., we have 416,488 customers out of power. Our focus today is on critical infrastructure and public safety, as PSE has been fielding many 911 calls for safety/emergency needs. With daylight approaching, crews will continue assessing more of the overall damage to the region and provide restoration updates as information becomes available. We anticipate a multiple day outage and encourage customers with critical needs to make alternate plans as we work to assess the situation and restore power.

As damage assessment and field work continue, estimated restoration times will be updated on our outage map at pse.com/outagemap and the myPSE app as they become available.

We are hearing reports of extensive numbers of downed lines and are urging our customers to never touch or go within 30 feet of downed power lines because they might be energized.

We understand this can be very frustrating to lose power for longer times, and we are thankful to our customers for their patience as we work to repair critical needs first.

Wednesday, Nov. 20 – 1 a.m.

Severe winds from this evening's bomb cyclone ripped through western Washington, causing a mass outage event throughout most of our service area, with the biggest impact in King County. As of 1 a.m. we have 474,032 customers out of power. We anticipate a multiple day outage and encourage customers to make alternate plans as we work to assess the situation and restore power.

We are hearing reports of extensive numbers of downed lines and are urging our customers to never touch or go within 30 feet of downed power lines because they might be energized. Field crews are also seeing many fallen trees, causing blocked roads and restricting access.

Our Emergency Coordination Center and local storm bases are open to support restoration efforts. As the winds calm down, we will start sending crews back out as it becomes safe to do so. Once we have daylight, we will also deploy helicopters to gather more information for our response.

Our first step in restoring power is damage assessment: getting a look at what’s been done to the system and determining the extent of repairs that are needed. The process takes time, especially with the extent of the damage. We have brought in additional crews from outside of the area to help with restoration efforts.

We are aware of technical issues related to our outage map and have resolved them. Thank you for your patience. Outages that have been reported are being received into the system.

Tuesday, Nov. 19 – 8 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warning and Wind Advisory covering most of Western Washington. The advisories went into effect late this afternoon and are expected to continue until 4 a.m. Wednesday. Additionally, a Blizzard Warning remains in effect until 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Cascades and Snoqualmie Pass areas. As the winds pick up, we’re beginning to see scattered outages across our service area.

One issue with this evening’s strong storm is that the wind direction will be from the east-southeast, which is uncommon and could place added stress on trees.

We're working on technical issues related to PSE.com and our outage map. Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve the issue. Issues that have been reported are being received into the system.

Our crews are ready to deploy with assignments when outages occur and as soon as it’s safe to do so. We’re also bringing in additional crews from outside of the area to help with restoration efforts.

Our first step in restoring power is damage assessment: getting a look at what’s been done to the system and determining the extent of repairs that are needed. The process takes time, especially if weather remains an issue. Unsafe weather conditions can slow these efforts.

As we prepare for storm conditions, we encourage our customers to do the same:

• Make sure to have emergency supplies on hand at home and in your vehicle, such as extra batteries, flashlights and food
• Have a battery-powered radio ready to go
• Charge cell phones and mobile devices in case the power goes out
• Avoid opening and closing refrigerators and freezers more often than necessary. A closed refrigerator will stay cold for up to 12 hours.
• Turn off lights and unplug all appliances and sensitive electronic equipment, such as computers, to prevent an overload on your circuits when electric service is restored. Leave one light on to let you know when service returns.
• Download the myPSE app to track and report outages, check status and get estimated restoration times, or visit pse.com/outagemap