Portland Area Sees Thousands Of Outages As Rain, Wind Play Havoc

PORTLAND, OR —As if the heavy rains of the past few days haven't been enough – more rain than fell through most of March – heavy winds, more rain, and even hail, tore through the region on Monday. At one point, more than 21,000 customers of Portland General Electric and Pacific Power were without electricity.

In Forest Grove, a 50-foot pine tree was uprooted by the powerful winds and deposited on the roof of a house. no one was home at the time.

In Hillsboro, an oak tree at the intersection of Southwest Oak Street and Third Avenue fell and blocked traffic for several hours.

The National Weather Service that some of the winds reached speeds of 50 mph. Their forecasters say that the unsettled conditions should remain through the evening and could even bring thunderstorms.

By 4:30 p.m., many of the customers who lost power had had it restored.