Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency Wednesday in Washington state after days of rain and a powerful storm Tuesday killed three people, cut power to more than 350,000 residents and flooded rivers.
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“Storm damage is spread throughout the city and will take time to assess and clean up”, Mayor David Condon said.
A guy in his mid-20s was killed when a tree smashed his auto as he was driving near Sultan in Snohomish County. The tree landed on the roof of the car’s over the seat of the driver, killing him immediately, said Fire Chief Merlin Halverson.
The two other victims were both women killed by falling trees one in Spokane and the other on State Route 904 southwest of the city, where a tree struck a vehicle.
Two mudslides blocked Highway 2 between Skykomish and Deception Falls, the state Department of Transportation said. Ferry excursions canceled or were delayed in a number of places and Sound Transit trains were delayed due to water and trees on the trails through the system.
Jace Bylenga, an organizing representative with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Spokane, says his group met with Avista early in the planning process, hoping to convince the utility to rely less on power generated from coal.
Puget Sound Energy, which supplies customers in parts of Seattle and its suburbs, reported roughly 70,000 outages on Wednesday morning, down from about 210,000 late on Tuesday.
The Snohomish County Public Utility District tweeted that about 130,000 of its customers lacked power.
Numerous schools canceled classes for Wednesday or delayed the opening bell.
The utility expects to have it restored before noon.
Avista crews say they have been working around the clock since near-hurricane force winds hit the Inland Northwest yesterday leaving approximately 180,000 customers without power at the height of the storm.
A wide swath of the Puget Sound region was under flood watches and warnings through Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
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Round the nation Tuesday, a strong storm dumped heavy snow on parts of Colorado while bringing the risk of twisters to millions in southern and central states.
