WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — This January winter storm is bringing a little of everything: snow in the mountains, rain and strong winds in the lowlands, as well as powerful waves along the coast and western Washington’s islands.
KOMO News’ Paul Rivera traveled to Whidbey Island Tuesday to observe conditions. Severe winds had blown driftwood up onto West Beach Road near Oak Harbor Tuesday. Crews spent much of the day working to clear the debris. The strong winds also knocked out power to thousands of people around western Washington Tuesday.
On the other side of the coin, the wind created near-perfect conditions for kite surfers to take advantage on Whidbey Island.
Stewart Sykes from Seattle was out kite surfing with his friends in the weather. Sykes was near a roadblock on West Beach Road.
“Anything more than this, you’re getting into hurricane kind of stuff so, this is close to my limit,” Sykes said, “I’m just trying to go as high as you can. It’s a lot of fun. We’re all trying to jump higher than our friends. It’s pretty surreal when you’re in the air, you’re just floating and everything goes silent.”
Michael O’Malley with the local fire department, sent KOMO News a picture of a tree that had fallen on a house at Hastie Lake Road.
Island County Emergency Management told KOMO News some of the roads along West Beach Road received water damage, but the extent of that damage was not yet known.
Other parts of the island looked similar to West Beach Road on Tuesday with the waves hitting the shore.
Near Fort Casey, we talked with one resident at his home that sits right next to the water.
“I was just out there watching the wood and the waves. It’s quite impressive,” he said it was hard to stand out in his backyard. “Can’t be out there too long. It’s nature and it’s powerful.”
A blizzard warning remains in effect for the Cascade and Olympic mountains through Wednesday morning. Click here for your latest forecast.
