High winds topple trees, power lines; about 18,000 without electricity, mostly on Kitsap Peninsula



SEATTLE (AP) -- Utility officials say crews were working through the night to help restore power to thousands of customers west of Seattle after another round of strong winds.

The gusts over 50 mph on Tuesday felled trees and power lines and mostly affected the Kitsap Peninsula, where Puget Sound Energy reported about 200 outages affecting more than 40,000 customers.



Tuesday's wind gusts were unrelated to a storm last week in eastern Washington. Crews in the Spokane area are still trying to restore power to about 20,000 customers affected by the damaging weather Nov. 17.

Avista Utilities in Spokane warned that as many as 5,000 customers in hard-hit areas might not have power back on Thanksgiving.