Residents of Whidbey Island are recovering from a late winter windstorm that started in the darkness of morning and continued to blow through early afternoon.

Heavy rains and strong winds pounded North and Central Whidbey particularly hard, causing downed trees that led to power outages, coastal flooding and debris on the roadways.

Winds as high as 51 mph and gusts of 65 mph were recorded between 4 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor.

Island County Public Works crews got their first call on Whidbey at 4:45 a.m. and responded to 50 events on the island by early afternoon, according to Matt Nienhuis, the county’s maintenance and operations superintendent.

Unlike last November’s storm that hit South Whidbey the hardest, North and Central Whidbey got the brunt of this one, as did Camano Island.

“We’ve had a lot of different events. It hasn’t been just one,” Nienhuis said. “We’ve had trees down, trees in lines, small slides with water over the roadways — we’ve kind of had it all.

“Heavy rain. We’ve had coastal flooding because of the high tides and winds.”

The worst flooding Nienhuis saw was along Shore Avenue at Freeland Park. Oak Harbor also experienced substantial flooding at Windjammer Park.

The high winds knocked down dozens of trees into power lines, leaving hundreds of residents on the island without power and forcing temporary road closures until utility crews could untangle the mess.

The winds also knocked enough trees over in the woods to force the temporary closures of Deception Pass, Fort Casey and Fort Ebey state parks. Fort Ebey re-opened by early afternoon.

“Early this morning things really started falling apart,” said Jack Hartt, park manager at Deception Pass.

About 10 trees fell over roadways or in campgrounds, Hartt said.

Hartt said it could be until Friday before some campgrounds could be re-opened. Crews were able to re-open the West Beach and Cranberry Lake area.

“It’s a little late in the year for a storm like this,” he said.