Outage leaves 1,500 without power in University Place while others face tidal flooding
Many University Place residents lost power Tuesday morning while strong winds lashed the region. And for those living on Day Island, high tides brought Puget Sound ashore, flooding some roads and homes.
Western Washington is facing a combo of poor weather conditions making flooding, landslides, downed trees and power outages more likely. The Tacoma area is under a flood watch until Wednesday morning, and days of rainfall have left behind soggy soil, increasing the chances for landslides and making it easier for Tuesday’s windstorm to blow down trees.
About 1,500 people lost power in University Place for a few hours starting just before 10 a.m. A spokesperson for Tacoma Public Utilities said the outage was caused by a tree limb that fell from the wind.
King tides were in the forecast, and Pierce County Sheriff’s Departments said that’s what flooded a southern portion of Day Island on Tuesday morning. West Pierce Fire & Rescue personnel went door-to-door to check on residents. Fire crews said while many residents had water inside their homes, no one was injured or needed to be rescued.
“Water was over the entire roadway,” Assistant Chief Scott Adams said. “Some of the houses — depending upon how high they sit — there was at least a couple of feet of water.”
High tide was at about 9 a.m. According to Tideschart.com, the tide peaked in University Place at about 14.76 feet. Adams said similar flooding was reported Tuesday morning just north of Chambers Bay at homes near Sunset Beach Road.
Adams said crews checked on 12-15 homes on the southern tip of Day Island, sometimes wading in knee-high water. Some of the homes crews checked on weren’t occupied. He said the rest of the island to the north has a slightly higher elevation, and the fire department didn’t receive reports of flooding from those areas.
Day Island resident Katie Ecklund, 46, said she and other residents on the northern tip of the island did get flooding. She estimated her crawlspace filled up with about 10 inches of water before it started to recede at 10 a.m. Ecklund said she and her husband had to hold down two pieces of decking that floated up in their backyard, standing on them and using paddles to keep them from washing away.
“It was pretty dicey for a little bit,” Ecklund said.
High tides have flooded Day Island before, and Adams said many of the people he and his crews talked with seemed calm. He estimated 10 people decided to stay inside while the tides receded. Crews did have to help move one person who uses a wheelchair. Adams said the person’s home took on water faster than expected, so crews helped move them and the other residents to a neighbor’s home.
Ecklund said she and her family are longtime Tacoma-area residents who have lived on Day Island for about two years. This is the second king tide they’ve dealt with, she said, and this one was much worse. They have neighbors in their 90s who she and other residents keep an eye on, Ecklund said. The neighbors’ basement flooded, but Ecklund said everyone was safe. Now they just have to clean up and prepare for the next high tide.
“We already hit Home depot and are hoping for the best,” Ecklund said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 11:32 AM.
