Power outages close schools, impact schedules in Thurston County

A wind-driven storm wreaked havoc with daily schedules and power delivery in Thurston County, leaving a number of schools to either close, open late or cut programs on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

The Olympia School District said Boston Harbor Elementary School and McLane Elementary School were closed on Wednesday because of power outages.

“Thank you for your patience as we verified the significance of this outage with PSE (Puget Sound Energy),” said the school district in a note posted to its website.

Power outages also forced North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) to shut down on Wednesday.

“There will be no school today, Wednesday, December 17, at NTPS schools due to power outages throughout the district,” said the school district in a note on its website.

The Tumwater School District delayed opening Littlerock Elementary School for two hours, then closed Black Lake Elementary (BLE) School when the power went out with students on the premises.

“A message went out to BLE families asking them to pick up their children, if possible. For those (students) who remain on campus, they will be fed lunch and then gather in areas that have some lighting and heat for activities,” said the school district in a note posted on its website.

“Buses will transport at the end of the day for those (students) who remain. No PM preschool.”

Puget Sound Energy said it was working to remedy the power outages, but it would take time.

“We know how disruptive it is to be without power and that you need to know when your power is coming back on so you can make plans. To provide accurate restoration times, we need to assess the extent of the damage and what repairs need to be made,” said the utility in a message posted on its website on Wednesday afternoon.

“We started damage assessment early this morning in areas where it was safe for our teams to be in the field. We will set estimated restoration times once we have an initial assessment of the damage.”

Weather outlook

The National Weather Service Office in Seattle forecast calls for rain in the days ahead with a 100 percent chance of precipitation on Wednesday evening and Thursday, Dec. 18. 

There is a 90 percent chance of precipitation on Thursday evening and a 90 percent chance on Friday, Dec. 19, and Saturday, Dec. 20. Rain is also in the forecast on Sunday, Dec. 21. Forecasts are subject to change.