PORTLAND, Ore. — Thousands of Oregonians woke up without electricity Wednesday morning following a night of heavy rain and wind.
A High Wind Warning for the north and central Oregon Coast, issued by the National Weather Service, expired at 4 a.m. on Wednesday. A cold front that arrived Tuesday night brought stormy weather to the region, with the strongest winds overnight, according to KGW meteorologist Rod Hill.
"Most of them, in terms of the highest reports, the big report, 80 mph wind gusts at 1 a.m. on the Astoria-Megler Bridge," Hill said during KGW at Sunrise.
Salem saw 40 mph winds while Portland International Airport recorded 37 mph, according to Hill. But by Wednesday morning, the wind started to ease and the rain began to break into showers.
Some areas reported more than an inch of rainfall in the last 48 hours, including Tillamook with 2.86 inches, Portland with 1.16 inches, Eugene with 1.27 inches and Vancouver with 1.30 inches
Power outages
On the northern Oregon Coast, more than 16,800 Pacific Power customers were without power, as of about 7:30 a.m. About 3,000 Portland General Electric customers across the Portland metro area were in the dark.
School delays, closures
The power outages have caused some school districts to close or delay start times Wednesday morning.
Northern Oregon Coast
- Jewell School District: 2 hours late. School begins at 10 a.m., finish at 3 p.m. Breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m.
- Warrenton-Hammond School District: Closed, no preschool due to power outages. The school district was initially on a 2-hour delay.
- Neah-Kah-Nie School District: 2 hours late.
Clackamas County
- Colton School District: 3 hours late due to power outages.
- Oregon Trail School District: Welches School (K-8) and Firwood Elementary are closed to to power outages.
Downed trees and powerlines, road closures
There have been reports of downed trees in the region. On the Oregon Coast, all eastbound lanes of Highway 30, about two miles east of Clatskanie, remains closed due to downed powerlines, according to Tripcheck.com.
At one point, strong gusts toppled some trees and forced the Oregon Department of Transportation to close a portion of Highway 26 near Seaside, but it has since reopened.
In Portland, a KGW crew saw a downed tree near Southwest Market Street and 12th Avenue that temporarily closed the left lane, but the lane is back open.
A tree fell on Northwest Lincoln Avenue in Vancouver, closing the road between Northwest 59th Street and Northwest 62nd Street just before 5 a.m. The road reopened about 30 minutes later.