Avista continues restoration efforts after windstorm

SPOKANE — Avista crews and staff continue responding to the remaining outages following Sunday’s windstorm.

About 18,600 Avista customers were without power, with 120 incidents reported, at the peak of the storm.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, 15,100 customers have been restored, with about 3,500 customers still without power because of the windstorm.

It is expected that many of those customers still without power will be restored by noon today, according to a press release. Those customers in the hardest hit areas, including Coeur d’Alene, St. Maries and Grangeville, are expected to be restored by 6 tonight.

A separate transmission issue occurring in Colville is impacting 11,883 Avista customers this morning.

Outages began to occur on Avista’s system at 3 p.m. Sunday and continued to occur throughout the evening.

"Soft and saturated ground due to recent rain has contributed to the number of trees that came down as a result of the wind," the release said. Across the region, trees coming into contact with electric lines and equipment caused damage to the transmission and distribution system. Due to redundancies built into the electrical system, Avista was able to reroute power, restoring service to some customers sooner.

"In the wake of Sunday's windstorm, Avista crews are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible," said David Howell, Avista's director of operations.

Customers should stay away from any downed power lines, not attempt to remove limbs from downed or sagging power lines, and should not drive over power lines. If customers see a downed power line, they should call 911 immediately and then Avista at (800) 227-9187 to report its location.