SPOKANE, Wash. — Power is slowly starting to come back Monday after a windstorm moved through Sunday.
Avista is reporting 12 active outages, however none are connected to Sunday's wind storm.
In a press release, Avista officials said outages started around 3 p.m. Sunday and continued throughout the evening. Trees coming down on power lines and equipment caused damage to the transmission and distribution system.
Wind gusts were forecasted to reach as high as 70 mph in the Spokane area on Sunday, and blowing dust was reported throughout Central Washington. The Washington State Department of Transportation warned drivers to use caution as the dust has decreased visibility in some areas.
A Public Safety Alert was sent to mobile phones in the area saying that Spokane County Emergency Management was issuing a warning due to the National Weather Service stating "this storm has the potential to be a high impact event with winds 50-65 mph and gusts to 70 mph between 2 and 8 p.m." They also advised people to stay indoors if possible.
Winds started to increase from the southwest throughout Sunday afternoon with gusts in the 30-45 mph range.