Strong winds Wednesday morning walloped Whidbey, causing power outages for the entire South End that lasted most of the day.

Andrew Padula, a spokesperson for Puget Sound Energy, said 15,119 customers on Whidbey Island lost power around 6:58 a.m. on Dec. 8.

The majority of outages were concentrated in Greenbank and to the south.

Padula said crews repaired damage to equipment on a pole. In addition, a helicopter patrolled the power lines to see if there was any damage to the hi-line.

Power was restored as late as 8:25 p.m. in some areas. Padula said a separate incident occurred in the evening around 7 p.m. that impacted some customers, who didn’t get their power back on until Thursday morning.

Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson said Thursday that she heard from residents who were upset with this and another power outage in the last month. Some people want Puget Sound Energy to hold town hall meetings to discuss the issue in the community.

Johnson pointed out that Puget Sound Energy interrupted power to do work several years ago to build redundancy in the system. She wondered how power keeps getting cut off if there is built-in redundancy. She said she plans on speaking with company officials about community concerns.