Windstorm thrashes Vashon over Tuesday morning

Published 9:52 am Tuesday, February 25, 2025

A windstorm Tuesday morning thrashed Vashon, shutting off power across the entire island.

By around 8 a.m., power had returned to Vashon Town and much of the surrounding area, but all of Maury Island and a huge swath of the island’s north and south ends remained without power, according to Puget Sound Energy’s outage map — affecting roughly 5,000 islanders.

As of press time, power had been restored to most of the island, though all of Maury and most of the north end was still without energy from PSE.

Still, howling winds continued across the island. More than 100,000 households across western Washington faced power outages thanks to the windstorm, according to King 5.

During or after a storm, remember the following:

• If you come across a downed power line, call Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773. Never touch or drive over downed power lines, and always assume they’re live. If a person or pet comes in contact with a power line, stay clear and call 911 immediately. Do not touch the victim or the wire.

• If you run a home generator while the power is out, remember to never use it indoors or in any enclosed space, even if it has some ventilation. Don’t hook it directly into your home electrical system. Don’t store fuel near a fuel-burning appliance, and turn the generator off and let it cool down before refueling.

• The myPSE smartphone app (www.pse.com/app) makes reporting and getting outage information easy. It will give you an outage map for your service address and the whole island, and a projected restoration time. You can also use it to report a new outage.