Andy Tullis / The BulletinPlastic bags blow over the fence at Knott Landfill as wind gusts blew through Bend Thursday afternoon.

High winds with gusts of 60 mph caused problems around Central Oregon on Thursday, from knocking out power to disrupting flights at Redmond Airport.

Lots of outages

More than 10,000 Pacific Power customers in Redmond and Powell Butte were affected by a power outage from about 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. Thursday. “A storm with high winds has resulted in severe and widespread damage to our facilities,” according to the company’s website.

The wind triggered scattered outages for about 400 members of Central Electric Cooperative, which serves parts of Central Oregon, said Jeff Beaman, member services director for the power provider. Almost all customers had their power back by midevening.

The stormy weather around Central Oregon sent trees and limbs into power lines. “When you have a weather event like this you kind of end up chasing damage all over the place,” Beaman said. Although the power went out at some schools in Redmond, classes went on as scheduled.

Trouble at the airport

Strong winds near the Redmond Airport prompted flight delays, diversions to other airports and cancellations, according to an airport news release. Canceled flights included a scheduled arrival from San Francisco and a flight to Seattle. A late-morning flight to Redmond from Seattle turned back due to the weather.

More wild winds?

The National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of 60 mph at the Redmond Airport and 54 mph at the Bend Municipal Airport, both shortly after 11 a.m, said George Perry, a forecaster with the agency in Pendleton. A gust of 55 mph hit Madras about the same time, and a gust of the same speed was recorded at Juniper Butte, south of Madras, about 10:45 a.m., Perry said.

Today, there should be showers around Central Oregon, but light winds.

Elsewhere, it was deadly

The wind was powerful across Oregon, bringing down power lines and killing two people in separate parts of the state.

— Dylan J. Darling, The Bulletin, and wire reports