SEATTLE (AP) – Cleanup began Wednesday in Washington state after a powerful storm killed three people, cut power to more than 300,000 residents and flooded rivers.
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A man in his mid-20s was killed when a tree crushed his vehicle as he was driving near Sultan in Snohomish County.
A wide swath of the Puget Sound region was under flood watches and warnings through Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
The strong winds and extended downpour caused fewer problems in OR, but roughly 1,000 Portland General Electric customers remained without power in the area Thursday night.
To the north, in Snohomish County, the public utility district said about 65,000 customers were without power on Wednesday morning, compared with 150,000 the night before.
Merlin Halverson, a county fire chief, said a motorist had been killed on Tuesday near the town of Monroe when a rain-soaked tree fell from a cliff onto the driver’s auto.
Classes in Spokane, Washington, were canceled Wednesday after severe weather downed trees and left widespread power outages.
The National Weather Service has forecast rain and wind for much of the week (see video that leads off this article for forecast details).
The utility said customers who lost power Tuesday should be prepared to go three to five days without electricity. “We now have a total of 78 crews along with servicemen, tree crews, damage assessors and hundreds of support personnel in the field”.
It added that an estimated 700 miles of overhead power lines had been damaged by the storm.
Near Portland, an 80-year old woman was trapped in her bed after a large tree fell on her house, leaving only centimetres in bed between her and the tree. Gonzaga, Whitworth, Washington State-Spokane and Eastern Washington universities were shut down Wednesday.
More than 360,000 customers were without power in the Puget Sound region, a local utilities reported late on Tuesday.
As rainfall continued in the area, King County – which contains Seattle – reported moderate flooding for the Snoqualmie River, which runs through the county.
Wind gusts around 100 miles per hour rattled areas west and north of Denver, blowing snow from Tuesday’s wintery storm across roads and knocking out power.
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The storm dumped over a foot of snow in a few parts of the Plains and winds created snow drifts several feet high.
