Thousands of Snohomish County residents still without power

Public utility crews have been working around the clock to restore electricity following last Friday's windstorm.

While power is back for more 220,000 customers since then, crews are still working on a number of big jobs, according to Snohomish County PUD.

“We’re seeing damage that some of our crews have never seen before,” said spokesperson Aaron Swaney.

He says much of the damage involves multiple big trees tangled into poles and wires.

Swaney says the first area of priority is critical infrastructure like hospitals, water pumps, and schools. Once power there is restored, residential customers are next.

Some damage was easier to fix. But many situations are more complicated that require multiple crews.

“First off, we have to bring in tree crews. They have to clear all that damage away and then the line crews can come in, they can reset the pole and then restring the wires,” Swaney said. “These jobs can take 10, 12 hours.”

Mutual aid crews from other Northwest utilities are helping those efforts. Swaney says they hope to have power completely restored by Thursday.

For customers who are still without power, there are cold weather shelters in Snohomish County that are open.

Those who have generators are urged to keep those five feet away from the house, and make sure they’re in a well-ventilated area.

Swaney said there are still a lot of downed wires in the area. He urged caution and instructed people to stay at least 30 feet away from the wires, just to be safe.