About 9,300 Avista Utilities customers in Spokane lost power on Monday and the company said more planned blackouts began on Tuesday afternoon in the city of about 220,000 people.
“We try to limit outages to one hour per customer,” said Heather Rosentrater, an Avista vice president for energy delivery.
She said about 2,400 customers were without power as of shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday, mostly on the north side of the city, and those customers had been alerted about the planned outage. About 21,000 customers were warned Tuesday morning that they might experience an outage, she said.
Rosentrater said the outages were a distribution problem, and did not stem from a lack of electricity in the system.
Two die in King County from heat-related illnesses during historic heat wave
Two people died in King County Monday from heat-related illnesses, and more than 200 others visited emergency departments for problems related to the heat. Author: KING 5 Staff Updated: 7:35 PM PDT June 29, 2021
KING COUNTY, Wash. Two people in King County died from heat-related illnesses during western Washington s historic heat wave, and a third person drowned, according to the King County Medical Examiner s Office on Tuesday.
Monday was the hottest day of the heat wave, with Seattle setting a new all-time record high temperature of 108 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Record temperatures gripping northwest linked to at least 2 deaths in Washington Louis Casiano
An unprecedented heat wave gripping the Pacific Northwest is responsible for two deaths in Washington and hundreds of emergency visits amid record-high temperatures in a region known more for rain and overcast weather.
The Seattle Times reported two women, a 65-year-old from Seattle and a 68-year-old from Enumclaw, both died of hyperthermia, meaning both bodies had become dangerously overheated, citing the King County Medical Examiner s office.
The heat may have claimed the life of a worker on a nursery in Oregon, the state’s worker safety agency, known as Oregon OSHA. A 4-year-old boy also drowned Monday, the newspaper said.
About 9,300 Avista Utilities customers in Spokane lost power on Monday and the company said more planned blackouts began on Tuesday afternoon in the city of about 220,000 people.
“We try to limit outages to one hour per customer,” said Heather Rosentrater, an Avista vice president for energy delivery.
She said about 2,400 customers were without power as of shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday, mostly on the north side of the city, and those customers had been alerted about the planned outage. About 21,000 customers were warned Tuesday morning that they might experience an outage, she said.
Rosentrater said the outages were a distribution problem, and did not stem from a lack of electricity in the system.
Blackouts in US Northwest due to heat wave, deaths reported
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Two people jump from a pedestrian bridge at Lake Union Park into the water during a heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Seattle. (John Froschauer/AP)
SPOKANE, Wash. The unprecedented Northwest U.S. heat wave that slammed Seattle and Portland, Oregon, moved inland Tuesday prompting a electrical utility in Spokane, Washington, to resume rolling blackouts amid heavy power demand.
Officials said a dozen deaths in Washington and Oregon may be tied to the intense heat that began late last week.
The dangerous weather that gave Seattle and Portland consecutive days of record high temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit was expected to ease in those cities. But inland Spokane saw temperatures spike.