A lightning bolt slammed into a utility pole along Mill Plain Boulevard near SE 136th Avenue in Vancouver on Friday, knocking out power for more than 5,100 customers in a stretch of the city that has become one of East Vancouver's busiest commercial corridors. Crews scrambled to make repairs as thunderstorms continued rolling through the region, with power expected to return before 7 p.m., according to a utility spokesperson.
The strike hit near the In-N-Out Burger location at Mill Plain and 136th, according to KATU, which first reported the outage citing Clark Public Utilities. The fast-food chain's Vancouver outpost opened in April 2026 as Washington state's second In-N-Out location, built on a former Rite Aid property at 13511 SE 3rd Way, as Hoodline detailed in its earlier coverage of the burger chain's debut. The restaurant's arrival turned the intersection into a regional draw, drawing enough traffic that the City of Vancouver and WSDOT had already set up a dedicated traffic control plan there, using off-duty police officers and drone aerial monitoring to manage the crowds.
A Direct Hit on the Grid
Clark Public Utilities, the customer-owned, non-profit utility that serves more than 240,000 customers across Clark County, said the lightning bolt knocked out power for thousands of people in the area. Unlike routine outages that can sometimes be resolved by switching circuits remotely, a direct lightning strike physically damages poles and transformers, requiring crews to inspect and repair equipment on site before power can be restored.
The utility's own educational materials explain why the damage is so immediate: lightning is static electricity generated by collisions of particles inside storm clouds, capable of reaching millions of volts, a vastly different force than the steady current electricity that flows through the grid to homes and businesses, according to Clark Public Utilities PowerZone. When a bolt finds a distribution pole, it can instantly disable the equipment that keeps current flowing safely to nearby streets and storefronts.
Drivers Warned to Treat Dark Signals as Stops
With traffic signals along the corridor going dark, drivers were asked to use caution while navigating the area, per the outage report. Washington state law is explicit on this point: under RCW 46.61.183, drivers approaching an intersection with a malfunctioning or unpowered traffic signal must treat it as a four-way stop, a rule that carries extra weight along a stretch of Mill Plain that already sees heavy commuter and retail traffic tied to the In-N-Out opening earlier this year.
Despite Friday's disruption, Clark Public Utilities generally posts strong reliability numbers. Federal energy benchmark tracking shows the utility averages just 0.48 outages per customer annually with an average restoration time of 45 minutes, compared to national averages of 1.44 outages and 123.5 minutes, according to FindEnergy. That track record suggests Friday's lightning-driven outage was an outlier rather than a sign of chronic grid trouble in the area.
More Storms in the Forecast
Thunderstorms remained in the forecast for both western Oregon and southwest Washington as the outage unfolded, meaning the risk of additional strikes was not over when crews began their repairs. The disruption fits into a broader pattern meteorologists have flagged for the region: late-summer advisories issued in late August and early September warned of an elevated thunderstorm and lightning risk moving across Washington and Oregon, a pattern the Willamette Valley News connected to increased power disruptions and wildfire hazards across the Pacific Northwest.
The National Weather Service recommends residents follow the “30-30 Rule” during active storms — seeking indoor shelter if thunder is heard within 30 seconds of a lightning flash, and staying inside for a full 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder is heard. The guidance notes that lightning can strike ground targets up to 10 miles from the center of a storm, meaning clear skies overhead don't guarantee safety from a nearby cell.
Customers looking to report outages or check restoration status can call Clark Public Utilities' 24-hour customer service line at 360-992-3000 or its dedicated outage reporting line at 360-992-8000, which helps dispatchers pinpoint damaged line segments and route repair crews more efficiently. Utility crews remained on scene working to repair the outage as of Friday afternoon.
