More than 10,000 Puget Sound Energy customers lost power across Kitsap County Saturday evening as a windstorm pushed tree limbs down onto power lines, with Central Kitsap bearing the brunt of the damage. A wind advisory remained in effect into early Sunday morning as forecasters warned gusts could still reach 50 mph before conditions calmed.
The largest swath of outages stretched west of Highway 3 in Central Kitsap, from around Wildcat Lake to Naval Base Kitsap Bangor, according to Kitsap Sun. Puget Sound Energy attributed that larger outage to tree limbs falling on wires, and the utility said some service in affected areas was expected to be restored later Saturday night.
Bainbridge Island was not spared either, with roughly 1,000 customers there losing power, while additional outages were scattered from South Kitsap down to the Hood Canal bridge, the report noted. PSE tracked the disruptions in real time on its outage map, and the utility cautioned residents never to touch or go within 35 feet of downed power lines, warning that they might still be energized, as Puget Sound Energy advised.
Wind Advisory Stretches Into Sunday Morning
A wind advisory covering Eastern Kitsap County, Northern and Southern Hood Canal, and Olympia and the southern Puget Sound region remained active until 4 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The advisory called for south winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts climbing to between 45 and 50 mph overnight, and warned that tree limbs could continue falling, potentially causing a few more power outages.
The National Weather Service said gusts could reach as high as 50 mph, with the windy conditions anticipated to last through 4 a.m. Sunday, per the same Kitsap Sun report. Heavy rain was also soaking the region alongside the wind, though the likelihood of rain continuing into Sunday was expected to drop dramatically once the storm system moved through.
Crews Staged Ahead of the Storm
Puget Sound Energy said its teams were prepared heading into the weekend, with additional staffing and crews ready to respond as outages mounted. The utility's readiness came as the Central Kitsap outage, the largest of the night, continued to be traced back to falling tree limbs rather than any equipment failure on the grid itself.
Kitsap County has seen destructive windstorms before; an earlier storm described in a Kitsap Sun archive report hit hardest in South Kitsap and the north end of Bainbridge Island, leaving residents without power for stretches of time. Saturday's event echoed that same geographic pattern, with Central Kitsap, Bainbridge Island, and South Kitsap again among the hardest-hit areas as crews worked through the night to restore service.
