Big storm hits Gorge

A severe thunderstorm struck the Gorge Thursday night, bringing thunder, lightning, and at least one big tree falling across the road. The storm cut power to about 2,000 customers, Northern Wasco County PUD announced. About 1,610 customers around The Dalles were out as of 10:30 p.m., including part of the downtown business area (pictured above), and work crews spent the night repairing damage. They were still at it late Friday morning restoring power to the last 64 customers. Across the river, more than 10,000 customers across Klickitat County lost power at the peak of the event, including in Bingen, White Salmon and Goldendale. Klickitat County PUD achieved full restoration on Sunday and thanked its staff — line crews, staking engineers, customer service representatives — in a public update.     

Martin Gibson photo