East winds gusting to 75 miles an hour plagued communities such as Enumclaw and North Bend in King County and Packwood in Lewis County and areas along state Route 167, the National Weather Service reported.

Water levels of Western Washington rivers, some of which flooded over the weekend, appeared to be receding.

High pressure east of the Cascades sent wind tumbling over the crest of the mountains, and a layer of warm air aloft funneled the air across their western flanks. One of the spots hit hardest was along Auburn-Black Diamond Road.

"There was a big pop, crash and the power flickered and went off," resident Haywood Saunders told KOMO-TV. A huge tree fell over near his house, taking down a power pole and several power lines with it.

Late yesterday, Puget Sound Energy said 10,000 customers had lost power. Comcast said about 9,000 people lost cable TV service as well, KOMO reported. Other Puget Sound-area utilities reported no similar damage.

Puget Sound Energy crews expected to work into the night to restore electricity service, said spokesman Tim Bader. The storm's impact was far less than one that occurred a year ago, but lines were knocked out throughout the day starting at 8 a.m.

"We've been restoring people and then we lose other people," Bader said. "There's a little bit of frustration there. We've been restoring people all day."

It was not clear when all homes and businesses would have service.

Forecasters said the skies should be calmer today. Winds were expected to die down last night, with today's high temperatures predicted in the low- to mid-50s. National Weather Service forecaster Dana Felton said lows should be in the lower 40s and there is a chance of rain this afternoon.

Gusty winds blew for several hours, ripping off roof tiles at a Covington tire shop. Elsewhere, dozens of tree branches were blown to the ground and street signs were blown over.

No one was hurt but several trees missed one resident's car by inches. Damage also was reported in Kent and Auburn.

High wind knocked over and destroyed a heavy KOMO-TV light standard just as a crew was doing a live report near Ravensdale. The damage cut the crew off the air.

The amount of water coursing through the three major forks of the Snoqualmie River in eastern King County was dropping yesterday evening at Snoqualmie, Carnation and Duvall.

Earlier in the day, high-water levels closed sections of nine roads near those three communities, as well as areas near Redmond and Skykomish. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials were monitoring six Western Washington river basins while restricting flows from five dams.