Weather forecasters predict a windstorm with speeds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph could strike Kent between Monday evening and noon Tuesday.
“The highest wind is expected overnight,” said Jeff Michalski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, in a phone interview Monday from his Seattle office. “They could last until noon tomorrow.”
The National Weather Service has issued a high wind watch advisory for Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon in Kent because of the anticipated southwest wind.
“There could be trees falling into power lines and scattered power outages,” Michalski said of the advisory.
The winds that blew Monday morning in Kent did not cause any power outages. The wind caused a few outages north of King County in Skagit and Whatcom counties, said Abigail Elliott, spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy.
PSE officials have work crews ready to respond to power outages that might hit Monday night or Tuesday.
“Depending where the storm hits, we will mobilize crews,” Elliott said. “They are ready.”
Elliott said residents should stay away from any downed power lines.
PSE customers can call 1-888-225-5773 to report outages 24 hours a day. They also can call that number to get information about when power might be restored.
“The winds are coming,” Elliott said. “But we don’t know which specific areas (might have power outages).”
Wind speeds are expected to drop from 25 to 35 mph to 11 to 13 mph by Tuesday evening and Wednesday before going away by Thursday.
Forecasters predict a 70 to 90 percent chance of rain from Monday night through Thursday, but do not expect any significant amounts of rain in the Kent area.
“It (the rain) will mainly be in the Olympics and the North Cascades,” Michalski said.
No problems with flooding are predicted this week along the Green River, Michalski said.
The Green River gauge at Auburn at 11 a.m. Monday listed a flow of 1,005 cubic feet per second (CFS), according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The NWS expects minor flooding along the Green River when the flow reaches 9,000 CFS, moderate flooding at 12,000 CFS and major flooding at 14,000 CFS.
For National Weather Service forecasts, go to <a href="http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew.
For Green River gauge readings, go to www.kingcounty.gov and click on “Current River Levels” under the “Prepare for Floods” heading.
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