Thousands in the dark after heavy rain, gusty winds bring down trees and power lines

This has been a December to remember for residents around Shoreline and Edmonds – two cities repeatedly pummeled by waves of severe weather. They’ve seen a dose of everything: snow, ice, and now—wind.

All of which has made it hard to keep the lights on. Kellie Stickney, spokeswoman for Snohomish County Public Utility District says, "Around 8 a.m. this morning, we’ve had 10,000 outages and now we’re down to around 4,400, and they’ll continue to work on those until power is back on for everyone 

Stickney says, so long ---as the weather keeps working to make conditions a challenge. Making it hard for anyone at Snohomish PUD to get a holiday.

Stickney says, "It's gusty winds, we’re seeing it a little bit everywhere throughout the county, I encourage folks to take some time this afternoon and get yourself prepared because we are looking at some additional outages that might come with the high winds." 

Maintenance worker Michael Burress has been going non-stop. Still trying to pick up the pieces from two storms ago: "it’s just work after work, you know, I’ll do this house (cleaning up tree branches), and then I have another house in Edmonds that I didn’t finish up cause of the last snow." 

Burress says it’s been a challenge to clean up trees, "It’s been frustrating because I can’t get out there because it’s either they fall down cause of the snow and everything freezes over so then you gotta dig out the trees."

With so many homeowners still struggling, the fear in some---- may try some unsafe ideas to stay warm. Prompting this warning from Puget Sound Energy: "If their at home never use a natural gas range for heating or any type of charcoal grill for indoor cooking or heating as well, because of the carbon monoxide poisoning."