Cleanup from the latest round of storms to hit Washington County began bright and early Friday morning, and power was restored to most parts of Washington County by early afternoon.
At the peak of the outage, approximately 7,000 customers in Washington County were without power. Blair and Arlington bore the brunt of the power outages.
In addition to the power outages, an Ericksen Construction crane working on the expansion project at the Blair Water Treatment Plant toppled over during the storm. No one was injured, and Blair’s water supply was interrupted.
Also in Blair, the storm’s strong winds destroyed the main south-side overhead door at the Washington County Recycling Association’s Recycling Center. As of Friday afternoon, city staff was working with recycling center staff to board up the overhead door opening until a contractor can replace the door.
By informal visual inspection, the city of Blair suffered the most tree damage in Washington County. And City Administrator Phil Green said the city will start picking up any tree debris that is put curbside in residential areas on June 3.
Pickup priority will focus on the Gateway to the West Days parade route and other areas used for the festival, Green said.
