Several power outages are impacting thousands of Bellingham residents as temperatures drop and winds rage Thursday night, Jan. 11.
More than 4,300 customers in the Irongate, King Mountain and Meridian neighborhoods lost power shortly after 5 p.m., according to Puget Sound Energy’s outage map. Another several hundred residents are without power outside city limits. The City of Blaine said crews are responding to a power outage in east Blaine.
Altogether, more than 5,000 Whatcom County customers are impacted, including 150 on Lummi Island. PSE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on updated estimated restoration times for the outages.
Whatcom County’s severe weather shelter in downtown Bellingham is full as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Check in for the 45-bed shelter opened at 5 p.m. and was intending to last until 8 p.m., but a sign on the door of the shelter read “full” just an hour and a half after opening.
Base Camp had limited first-come, first-served availability as of 6:30 p.m. Jan. 11, and Road2Home’s winter shelter check-in opened at 7 p.m.
The City of Bellingham is working with the Homeless Outreach Team and the county to open an additional daytime “warming option” beginning Friday morning, Mayor Kim Lund said in a statement to Cascadia Daily News.
Lund said the city is also in contact with Bellingham Public Schools, Whatcom Transportation Authority, Northwest Youth Services, Lighthouse Mission Ministries, Road2Home and others to ensure “there are options for those who need a warm place to go.”
Check-in for Ferndale Community Services severe weather shelter at 2034 Washington St, Ferndale opened at 5:30 p.m., but with capacity for only 15 people.
An urgent wind chill advisory is in place for western Whatcom County, and the overnight low is predicted to reach 7 degrees in Bellingham, with wind chill conditions of 20 below zero. In these conditions, exposed skin can get frostbite within 30 minutes.
