Gusts up to 77 mph knock out power for 118K around Western WA

Winds from the Pacific accelerated Saturday evening, knocking out electricity for tens of thousands and whipping towns on the Washington coastline.

The National Weather Service upgraded earlier predictions to a wind warning around Grays Harbor, with a steady range of 50 to 65 mph winds blowing. A 77 mph gust was recorded at Hoquiam Airport shortly before 8 p.m., and another gust hit 71 mph in Westport, where the city’s downtown live cam showed a steel flagpole swaying like a noodle — until the camera feed abruptly went offline.

In all, over 118,000 customers lost power by Saturday night, as a storm continued to roll through.

Puget Sound Energy reported over 94,000 customers had lost electricity as of 9 p.m., with the most outages clustered in Pierce and Thurston counties. That’s in addi