Heavy winds began early last night in Walla Walla, as several students reported lights flickering in Whitman buildings and off campus houses around 8 pm. A post on the Facebook page Walla Walla Scanner Info By Kevin stated that 1116 individuals were impacted by outages as of 10:30 pm last night. As of 10 am this morning, Pacific Power’s outage map shows 144 customers still without power.

The City of Walla Walla Parks and Recreation Department and Mountain View Tree Service both reported being flooded with calls for tree and debris removal. Valencia Street is currently closed between Isaacs and Alverado as city employees haul away pieces of a large fallen branch that took down a power line.

Whitman’s Arborist Kirk Huffey explained why this storm in particular has caused so much tree damage.

“It was pretty intense because it’s a southeast wind. We don’t normally get east winds in town, so the trees don’t build up their reaction to east blowing heavy winds, so when we get them every once in a while it does a lot of damage,” Huffey said.

He advised students to be cautious of broken branches that have yet to fall.

“[Students] should pay attention when they’re walking around campus. A lot of times the wind will break stuff and it’ll just be hanging there. So when you’re walking, pay attention and don’t be looking down at your phone [because] stuff could be hanging above you. We’re trying to get to it, but you don’t always catch everything.”

The heavy winds are expected to die down this morning.