Weather causes outages

EPHRATA - An estimated 6,500 Grant PUD customers were without power Sunday night because of a storm in the area, agency spokesperson Tom Stredwick said Monday.

Grant County began experiencing high winds and lightning around 6 p.m. and affected customers were without power by 8 p.m., he said.

The storm damaged numerous power lines and structures throughout the county, which impacted both distribution and transmission systems, Stredwick said. In Moses Lake, the storm damaged about five different poles holding transmission lines.

"Any time you have damage to transmission lines it impacts a larger group of customers," he said.

Crews worked throughout the night to restore power to the affected areas, Stredwick said.

About 50 customers in the Mae Valley area near Moses Lake and the Ruff area near Wilson Creek were still without power Monday morning. Their service was restored around noon that day, he said.

Stredwick said power customers can find tips on what to do during outages on their website, at http://grantpud.org/customer-service/power-outages.