20,000 without power around Puget Sound

Most of the Eastside was drying out Thursday, while about 1,000 homes remained without power in King County.

"It's down to the mop-up stage in King County," said Puget Sound Energy spokesman Dennis Smedsrud. "We're just trying to get things buttoned up."

Even Eastside Fire & Rescue, which opened a temporary fire station to service the Preston area, reported general tranquility.

"It's going pretty smoothly," said Josie Williams, public-information officer, adding that only a single small fire was reported all day Thursday. "We needed a break."

In the Upper Preston area, where about 200 homes are located, a temporary road repair allowed drivers to get in and out, said Rochelle Ogershok, spokeswoman for the county Road Services Division.

The Raging River destroyed access to the community with slides that began Nov. 6. A one-lane paved bypass route was built onto the shoulder of Interstate 90, nearly reaching the eastbound freeway lanes, around the slide area. It's expected to be three to four months before a permanent solution can be found, said Ogershok.

Other repairs have to be made to a bridge connecting to Upper Preston that also partly collapsed in the floods, as well as to a slide area along 312th Avenue Southeast, she added, with all the work expected to take months.

More than 150,000 homes and businesses across eight counties sustained power outages during Wednesday's rain and windstorms.

Most severely hit were residents in Island County — particularly Whidbey Island, with winds of about 45 mph and gusts stronger than 60 mph.

About 20,000 outages remained Thursday around Puget Sound, most in Island County, Smedsrud said.

The Seattle area had sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

PSE had about 100 crews fixing lines downed by heavy tree limbs and wind.

About 11,500 Snohomish County Public Utility District customers lost power, but only a handful still were waiting for the lights to return late Thursday.

The National Weather Service reported that Wednesday's rainfall squeezed past the monthly record for a November set in 1998. The rainfall total at Sea-Tac stood at 11.63 inches Thursday with 14 more days to add to that total; the previous record was 11.62 inches.

Forecasters expect more wind and rain from another storm Sunday afternoon, but early predictions are that the storm won't be as severe as Wednesday's, according to the National Weather Service.

Seattle Times reporters Brian Alexander, Christopher Schwarzen, Jennifer Sullivan and Peyton Whitely contributed to this report.