>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

A section of a wind-toppled silver maple tree that landed on Tony and Margaret Corig’s house at Ninth and N captures the attention of onlookers Monday. - Observer photos/PHIL BULLOCK

The storm kicked up in La Grande suddenly about 4:45 p.m. According to estimates, wind speeds reached 60 mph during the mercifully brief episode.

“It came in from south of La Grande and passed through pretty rapidly,” said Marilyn Loman, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Pendleton. “It continued up into the Blue Mountains to Pendleton. We had gusts of 62 here.”

Between 4:45 and 5 p.m., dispatchers at the Union County 9-1-1 center fielded a rash of weather-related calls, most originating in La Grande.

Callers reported downed trees and tree limbs, especially on the city’s south side. In one incident several large branches from a tree fell on a house at Ninth Street and N Avenue but the house did not sustain any significant damage.

In the next block on Ninth Street, a section of a box elder fell onto the street but neighbors quickly had it removed.

Oregon Trail Electric Co-Op reported 600 La Grande customers were briefly without power because of two incidents involving power lines.

About 4:35 p.m., a large tree branch fell on a power line, causing a substation breaker to open. About 400 customers in southeast La Grande, including those at the Flying J travel plaza and the airport industrial park, were without electricity for about 20 minutes.

About 200 customers in southwest La Grande were affected about 4:40 p.m. when a falling tree tore down a primary wire and opened a breaker at First Street and Washington Avenue. That outage lasted about an hour and 10 minutes.

The La Grande Public Works Department said damage throughout the city was light and streets remained open.

Residents along Ninth Street pitch in to clean up limbs from a large box elder tree that blew down in Monday’s windstorm. The limbs covered the street and blocked traffic on the street between N and O avenues. - Observer photos/PHIL BULLOCK

Oregon Department of Transportation crews were busy during the storm, picking up signs and debris on Interstate 84.

Tom Strandberg, ODOT’s public affairs specialist, said a stop sign blew down at the Union Interchange at milepost 265, east of La Grande. West of La Grande at the Grande Ronde River crossing and at Upper Perry, construction zone signs were knocked over and blown about.

Strandberg said there were no injuries or accidents and the freeway remained open.

“We’d heard about the possibility of storms and our crews were prepared and on the lookout,” he said.

In the Pendleton area, the freeway between the Wildhorse Casino and downtown Pendleton was closed for about an hour Monday afternoon due to low visibility caused by blowing dust. Also, a travel trailer tipped over on the highway, blocking traffic.

The NWS said weather disturbances will continue to bring unstable conditions to Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington through Friday. More stable conditions will prevail Saturday through Monday.