The city issued a warning today about the heavy rains and strong winds that are expected to continue tonight and tomorrow. Another 10 inches of rain is on its way, further saturating soils and increasing the likelihood of falling trees, power outtages and landslides.
The Bainbridge Island Police Department is urging residents to stock up (if you didn’t already do so after the Snowpocalypse) on emergency supplies.
Doug Tolliver, a “A Shovel 4 Hire,” escorts a Winslow shopper over an icy crosswalk on Monday. Find more photos here
Shoppers squinted and blinked as they entered Lindsleys clothing store on Monday afternoon.
Somewhere among the darkened clothing racks Tom Lindsley was voicing a welcome to them. Most customers needed a few seconds to let their eyes adjust from the glare of Winslow’s snowy streets to the dim of the unlit store.
“Right now all we have is daylight,” said Lindsley, who co-owns the 17-year-old store store with his wife. “And a few flashlights people will hopefully use.”
Lindsleys was one of many downtown shops already struggling under a sluggish economy. The winter snow storm and resulting power outage made a bad situation worse.
And while the Christmas season was anticipated as a happy ending to a tough year, many stores found the snow kept many holiday spenders at home.
“The combination of the weather and the economy really makes things messy,” Lindsley said. “It hurts a lot. Our (sales) are way down. And we’ll have to close early because it’s getting harder to see in here.”
Crews were working overtime during the weekend and on Monday morning to clear snow-laden roads and restore power to over 3,000 darkened homes.
Puget Sound Energy notified Bainbridge Island Police on Monday that four repair crews would soon be joined by teams searching for downed power lines, fallen branches and other problems causing blackouts around the island.
Parts of Winslow lost power at around 5 p.m. on Sunday while surrounding areas flickered out on Monday morning. By the afternoon, a handful of downtown businesses found power restored, only to lose it hours later.
Bainbridge City Hall, which opened two-hours late on Monday, was without power all day. Many staff relied on the light coming in through windows to do their work.
Bainbridge police were inundated with calls over the weekend and on Monday to assist motorists struggling with snowy conditions.
“A lot of people are getting themselves stuck or are sliding off the roads,” Police Chief Matt Haney said.
Haney predicted driving conditions would worsen on Monday night.
