Winds cause power outages

Avista crews were working Tuesday night and Wednesday morning following the largest power outage Avista has seen since the 1996 ice storm. Gusts which reached up to 80 miles per hour downed trees and power lines and blew transformers in some areas.

More than 200,000 Avista customers were without power Tuesday night in more than 3,300 reported outages across eastern Washington. Avista reported that many of the customers without power were in Spokane County. Whitman County saw more than 7,000 without power.

In Colfax, power was knocked out shortly before 7 p.m. and restored around midnight.

As of Wednesday morning, Avista reported 157 outages in Whitman County with 6,065 customers affected. An estimated restoration time was not available at that time. Power was still out in much of Endicott, St. John, Farmington and LaCrosse, with more than 95 percent of customers affected in each of those communities. In Colton, Uniontown, Garfield, Palouse, Oakesdale, Tekoa, Rosalia and Malden, power was mostly restored as of Wednesday morning. Twenty-seven percent of Pullman customers were still without power Wednesday morning, largely affecting only the southeast side of the city.

Avista stated that priority restoration would be to rebuild and repair transmission lines first, followed by areas where critical community infrastructures were affected and then densely populated areas.