South Sound braces for high winds, rain

TACOMA -- The South Sound was forecast to get hammered by Thursday’s windstorm.

The wind steadily picked up all afternoon along Interstate 5 in Tacoma and the rain soon followed.

Tree crews from Tacoma Power spent the afternoon trimming heavy branches away from power lines to stay one step ahead of the storm.

“We try to be ahead of the game and have the trees trimmed ahead of time so that when it happens it shortens the restoration time,” said Mike Snider with Tacoma Power.

The crews were working right outside Carlos Ponce’s front door. He said his family spent the afternoon gathering supplies in case they were left in the dark.

“We’re getting as many blankets, sweaters, heaters, anything we can get ahold of as much as we can,” he said.

As many as nine Tacoma Power crews were ready to respond to downed lines and even more could be called in if outages became widespread.

Just like the power company, homeowners also need to prepare for big storms.

“You want to prepare in case you’re going to have an outage,” said Snider. “We prepare, you want do the same thing with your home and your family.”

This storm wasn’t expected to last through the night but gusts are forecast to push towards 60 mph.