TOOELE, Utah — High winds left some residents in Salt Lake and Tooele counties without power and with damage to their homes Monday morning.
About 6,600 customers in the Salt Lake area were impacted at one point by an outage after Mylar balloons blew into power lines, according to Rocky Mountain Power spokeswoman Jona Whitesides.
"These wind gusts do have the potential ability to push things into the lines, or other foreign objects, which is why we put out the statement that we just wanted people to be prepared," said Whitesides.
In Tooele County, several residents shared pictures of downed trees and debris in their yards, as well as knocked-over fences.
Michelle Johnson has lived in her Tooele home for 10 years.
"I couldn't predict the speeds, but we've had 60-plus before and nothing's come off, and this time it's come off," said Johnson.
She said she went outside just after 6:30 a.m. to find some of the siding coming off near the second floor of her home.
"I picked it up and looked behind me and saw the three other long ones hanging there, dangling in the wind, just slamming the house when the wind comes through," she said.
TODAY'S FORECAST: Strong winds today; Rain & snow this week
While it's a first for her, Johnson said it isn't uncommon to see her neighbors or those who live nearby deal with damage when the high winds roll through.
"Many houses have had shingles come off in the past year," she said. "Neighbors behind us had some come off a couple of years ago and they've replaced them, so it's just the high winds, and I guess it's just Tooele."
Johnson said she feels lucky the damage was just to her house. However, she hopes such strong winds don't come back again later this week.
"Just keep our fingers crossed, there's no more wind and this will hold," she said.
As for the damage to the siding on her home, Johnson said it should be fixed sometime by the end of this week.
To prepare for potential power outages in the coming days, Rocky Mountain Power is urging people to be prepared by having a flashlight, a battery-powered radio, and a power bank to charge their phones.
