Washington Coast braces for next round of storms, 70-75 mph wind gusts likely


WESTPORT -- When a big storm rolls in the people of Westport tend to be the first to know.

There is a big community of fishermen here, their boats fill the marina and on Tuesday night, they are preparing for high winds and lots of rain.

"There's a big storm supposed to blow 40 or 50 or something like that. I know all the fishermen are in,” Big Dog Fish owner Nick Downs said.

In a high wind warning, the National Weather Service says winds through Wednesday afternoon could hit 40 mph with gusts to 70 mph. After a breather, another storm Thursday and Thursday night could produce winds of 45 mph with gusts to 75 mph.

Downs is preparing crab pots to be set later this month, but earlier today he and other fishermen were taking care of their boats.

"Basically you just have to put a couple of extra lines on them," Downs said. "Make sure all your bilge pumps are working and that's about it and wait out the storm.”

Grays Harbor officials said this storm should be pretty intense, but nothing the city can't handle.
 



"We believe it will be pretty significant," Grays Harbor County Deputy Director of Emergency Management Chuck Wallace said. "The National Weather Service just told us it's coming and it will be a lot worse than yesterday.”

People in Westport are accustomed to big storms and that's exactly what is expected Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

"Through the night we're expecting two to three inches of rain which is about what we got yesterday. We're expecting winds anywhere from 35 to 40 miles per hour with gusting up to maybe 65 to 70,” Wallace said.

That could make things very difficult and potentially dangerous.

"Our ground is so saturated right now and anymore rainfall and heavy winds it starts knocking trees down which brings power lines down which gets the PUD out,” Wallace said.

The bad news is a third storm is expected mid-day Thursday into Friday and it’s expected to be the biggest of the three storm with wind gusts expected as high as 75 miles per hour.