King County Councilman Dow Constantine, D-West Seattle, has requested a formal council review of the local response to December's massive windstorm.

Constantine wants local lawmakers to find what lessons can be learned from the natural disaster that left trees toppled, roads blocked and hundreds of thousands of King County households without electricity for days.

"Utility crews have made a heroic effort to bring power back to every home and government employees have worked hard to ensure critical services are available to all residents," said Constantine.

"Clearly, we can and must learn to do things better."

Downed electricity lines caused major extended power outages throughout Constantine's council district, which includes North Highline, Burien and Normandy Park.

King County's two major electricity providers-Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy-each saw more than half of their customers left in the dark for several days.

Constantine proposed that the council review how governments, utilities and citizens prepared for and reacted to this major event-and what each can do now to be better prepared in the future.

"It's important that utility officials, government representatives, emergency preparedness experts, and the public get a chance to discuss what was done well in reaction to this storm, what failings there were in the system, and what we can learn from both," said Constantine.

"We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on preparing for the next major event, whatever may come."