Here’s the latest information from PSE on the Wind Storm Restoration Efforts as of 2 p.m.  Please pass along to your crews in the field.

• Crews are making progress assessing and repairing damage from 24 hours of strong winds that started Tuesday morning.  However, more damage occurred last night.  And as of this afternoon, wind gusts in parts of south King County continue to bring down trees and branches, snapping more power lines and triggering a new round of outages.

• We’re still keeping an eye on the blustery weather.  A wind advisory remains in effect for the Cascade foothills until late Thursday morning.

• As of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, crews had restored power to more than 169,000 PSE customers, a number of which includes customers who many have lost power more than once.  The highest number of customers without power at any given point was about 60,000. As of

• 2 p.m., that number is about 39,000.  There are more than 400 outages in south King County.  The outage map at pse.com/outagemap has the latest information.

• Restoration efforts are focused on transmission lines and substations that are currently offline; they serve large numbers of customers. Sections of those transmission lines and even transmission towers – which carry large amounts of power from one place to another – sustained heavy damage. It’s time-consuming repair work.

• We have more than 40, four-person crews in the field – primarily focused on south King County – along with smaller teams of servicemen, damage assessors, tree crews and teams to make sure areas are safe and secure.

• Crews from Snohomish County, Eastern Washington, Oregon and Canada and are now bolstering our own forces.  The severity of this wind storm has created a tremendous amount of damage.  Crews can work only a certain number of hours for safety purposes, so this allows us to rotate shifts around-the-clock to get the work done.

• We normally assess potential damage to transmission lines using helicopters.  But much of that work has been done from the ground, as winds have often been too dangerous for aerial reconnaissance.• e’re working to get power restored for customers as quickly as possible and most should be restored today and into Thursday. However, some customers may be without power longer due to the damage that has already occurred, and potential new problems caused by the weather.

• Due to the unusually cold temperatures, PSE encourages customers without power to be prepared for their safety and comfort.  Always:  Safety first.  If using portable heaters, keep them away from furniture, draperies and other flammable materials. Never use a natural gas range for heating or charcoal as an indoor heating or cooking source. For more information, go to www.pse.com/safety.

• PSE electric customers should continue to report outages by calling 888-225-5773, or online if they can at pse.com/outagemap.