PUD’s Koch breaks down storms by the numbers: Debris, repair, water levels, cost

CHELAN COUNTY — A series of powerful December storms triggered a wide-ranging response by Chelan County PUD crews, disrupting electric, fiber, and wastewater services and sending thousands of cubic yards of debris downstream to Rock Island Dam.

Speaking during a PUD commission meeting on Jan. 5, Chief Operating Officer Dan Koch said the storm that began in mid-December affected about 15,000 electric customers at its peak. Nearly 3,600 fiber customers were also impacted, along with wastewater infrastructure, including 133 wastewater tanks and a main break along Cedar Brae Road in Leavenworth.

“As you know, Mother Nature didn’t want to go quietly into 2026,” Koch said, describing the second half of December as unusually active.

The storm response extended well beyond line crews in the field. Over a three-day period, the district received nearly 4,000 customer calls, with roughly 1,500 calls coming in on both December 10 and 11. Koch said the majority of those calls were answered by live staff, a point he said reflected the district’s emphasis on customer service during emergencies.

“That speaks volumes to the commitment that the district has in providing customers with a high-quality service,” he said.

District communications staff also handled a surge in media inquiries, completing 15 interviews over a nine-day span — a significant share of the roughly 175 interviews the PUD typically conducts in a year.

Behind the scenes, restoration work drew in nearly every part of the organization. Koch said district staff logged close to 10,000 hours of work over the response period, with about 225 employees supporting the effort in various roles.

Repair crews replaced approximately 30 utility poles, including five transmission poles, and about 80 crossarms damaged by falling trees. Just over three miles of transmission and distribution cable were replaced, along with 10.8 miles of fiber drops serving homes.

Supplying that work required a massive logistical effort. Koch said the PUD warehouse issued more than 338,000 individual parts and pieces to crews, representing 441 different items needed to restore service.

Tree damage played a major role in the outages. Crews removed 134 trees in total, about two-thirds of which were already down or actively interfering with the system. Another 46 trees were identified and removed proactively as hazard trees to prevent additional outages.

“I really want to recognize the tree crews and the forestry department for being proactive,” Koch said.

The storms also sent an extraordinary amount of debris into the Columbia River system. At Rock Island Dam, crews worked for 14 consecutive days in 12-hour shifts to remove nearly 13,000 cubic yards of material that accumulated near the structure.

“The volume was amazing,” Koch said, recounting debris that included large trees, sections of decks, hot tubs, and even appliances.

Hydrologic impacts were felt throughout the region. Koch noted that Lake Chelan rose nearly 4.7 feet over a 15-day period in December, representing more than 64,000 acre-feet of water. The Stehekin River reached a peak of 29.45 feet, the third-highest flood level on record.

While crews are still finalizing cost totals, Koch said the PUD expects the storm response to total about $3.5 million.

“It was a long three days,” he said, “and a lot of work went into restoring those services.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media