Storm: Hold on to your hats!
Brian Walker; Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 3 months AGO
With last November's fierce windstorm a painful memory, local emergency responders, weather watchers and others on Thursday night were bracing for wind gusts up to 50 mph this morning.
Meteorologist Randy Mann said Thursday's rain and today's wind and more rain set the stage today for clogged drains and street flooding, downed trees and power lines, and outages.
"It won't be quite as bad as November, but it will still be a good-sized storm coming through," Mann said, adding November's storm reached gusts in the 70-mph range.
"When you've got saturated soils from all the rain and 40 to 50 mph winds, there may be trees that topple and power outages. With all the leaves and pine needles that have fallen, there will also likely be a lot of water in the streets so drivers will want to be careful."
The highest gusts were expected to reach up to 50 mph early this morning and are expected be 30 to 35 mph tonight.
"Wind speeds will then lessen for a few hours (late this morning) before increasing again (this) afternoon and early evening," a press release issued by the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department states.
Rain is expected to continue off and on throughout today and the weekend.
"We could see up to 3 inches of rain by Monday in the Coeur d'Alene area," Mann said. "The storm is strong as it's tapping into moisture from a typhoon in the eastern Pacific."
Pat Riley, chief at Northern Lakes Fire District, which serves Rathdrum and Hayden, said responders were briefed from the county's Office of Emergency Management on the storm through the National Weather Service and there were lessons learned from November.
He said local fire agencies are prepared to set up a joint operations center to collaborate on the calls. The collaboration is especially effective when a particular agency starts to get overburdened with calls.
"This would allow us to better assign our resources once dispatch gives us the call," Riley said. "We're prepared and ready."
Riley said the joint operations center would be set up at the request of any of the agencies' battalion chiefs on the street.
A Coeur d'Alene Fire Department press release states 911 is only to be used in the event of emergencies. For non-emergencies, use non-emergency numbers for services in your area.
Utility crews are also on alert.
Preparations include ensuring vehicles are fully stocked with materials needed during outages, alerting employees assigned to outage restoration, and making sure crews are ready to respond.
"Restoring power to our customers as quickly and safely as possible is our top priority," said Greg Gfeller, Avista Utilities' director of eastern operations. "If outages do occur, we will work around the clock until all customers are returned to service."
Avista customers experiencing a power outage are encouraged to report it online or through their mobile device at www.avistautilities.com or by calling (800) 227-9187. Updated outage status information, including estimated restoration times, is also available on Avista’s website.
Outage preparations include:
• making sure cellphones and other mobile devices are fully charged and flashlights have fresh batteries;
• having water and non-perishable foods on hand;
• knowing how to manually open and close electric garage doors, security doors and gates; and
• knowing the operating requirements of your gas equipment.
Several school and community events throughout the county on Thursday and today were canceled.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Centennial Trail bridge project near the state line that was slated for today has been postponed until next summer.
ARTICLES BY BRIAN WALKER; STAFF WRITER
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