Winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour caused big problems around Lynnwood this afternoon.

Our news partners at the Seattle Times have this report:

In Snohomish County, winds knocked a branch onto a power line about 3 p.m., tripping the circuitry and causing a power outage for about 16,000 customers, said Neil Neroutsos, spokesman for the Snohomish County Public Utility District. Those customers, mostly in Lynnwood, north Edmonds and Maltby, lost power for a half hour before the PUD was able to remove the branch and reset the circuit.

The outage also closed Alderwood Mall for about an hour. PUD says up to 60,000 customers lost power today throughout the county at one point.

You’d think a power outage would become a particular problem for a lighting store, but employees at the Lamps Plus in Lynnwood continued to do brisk business even when a transformer blew, plunging the store and intersection into darkness. Employee Emily Stamm completed a sale without use of computer at the store.