Vashon’s emergency preparedness organizations and fire department are monitoring a large windstorm expected to make landfall Saturday and bring with it winds rivaling that of the Hanukkah Eve storm of 2006.
The storm is coming on the heels of a smaller storm that made landfall late Thursday night and brought more than 1.5 inches of rain to the area in the last 24 hours, according to National Weather Service measurements for Gig Harbor and SeaTac airport.
As of 2:20 p.m. Friday, small power outages have been reported on Vashon with Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) outage map indicating 16 customers without power in the Luana Beach area on Maury Island and 17 without power on Vashon’s southwest side, near Reddings Beach.
“We’re watching the weekend’s weather closely and making preparations for an even bigger wind storm Saturday. As we get prepared, we’re urging customers to do the same,” Puget Sound Energy’s website indicates.
Rick Wallace, head of VashonBePrepared, Vashon’s volunteer disaster preparedness coalition, said that he has been receiving weather briefings from the National Weather Service (NWS) and has “as much insight” as he can, given the fact that “the weather does what it wants.”
“It has been very wet overnight and somewhat windy on Vashon but not severe so far,” Wallace said Friday morning. “Meanwhile, the Saturday storm is shaping up to deliver pretty severe winds.”
Rain is expected to continue through Friday and taper off Saturday before the large second storm hits.
Wallace says that, according to NWS models, the storm is predicted to make landfall on the southwest Washington coast Saturday afternoon before running over the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula and on into British Columbia.
“If the computer models are accurate then forecasters say Seattle metro area (includes Vashon) … would likely have its most significant windstorm since the Hanukkah Eve windstorm of December 2006,” Wallace said.
Winds are expected to be a sustained 22 to 27 mph with gusts as high as 50 to 60 mph moving in between 10 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday.
Ahead of this forecast, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) Chief Bob Larsen has been pulling Wallace and other officials together for pre-storm meetings. Another meeting is happening this afternoon.
Vashon’s Ham radio community is also on standby and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members have been asked to check their go kits and other needs for potential deployment.
Multiple island events have also been cancelled ahead of Saturday’s windstorm. The open house scheduled Saturday for Vashon’s new health care clinic, Neighborcare Health at Vashon, has been postponed. A new date has not been set. Also, Vashon Center for the Arts announced Friday afternoon that “due to dangerous weather conditions,” Saturday’s concert, “Close To You: The Music of the Carpenters,” has been cancelled and rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6, 2017.
Voice of Vashon’s Emergency Alert Team has issued a storm advisory and urged islanders to prepare for potential long-term power outages with non-perishable food, water, warm clothing, radios and flashlights with extra batteries.
“It’s a certainty we’ll have power outages, trees down and roads closed,” Wallace said of Saturday’s storm.
Washington State Ferries officials are also preparing for the storm, the department sent an email to customers today warning of possible cancelled sailings. The message indicated that central Puget Sound and South Sound routes “are not likely to experience many impacts from the storm, though it’s possible that heavy traffic will delay service.”
“In inclement weather, boats may be ‘shortloaded’ — not loaded to full capacity —to stabilize the vessels and keep more weight on the boat’s stern (back end),” the message indicated.
This story will be updated when more information is made available.
