Posted on 12/15/2006 10:37:48 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SEATTLE (AP) - About 1.5 million homes and businesses in Washington state and Oregon had no power early Friday after howling windstorms and heavy rains caused at least three deaths, closed two major bridges and sparked flooding.
One of the concourses at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was without electricity, and an airport spokesman said some flights likely would be cancelled. A 41-year-old Seattle woman died Thursday after she became trapped in her basement while it flooded. Neighbours had called for help after they heard screaming.
Also in Washington, two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees.
Colder temperatures were expected Friday as the storm passed and winds calmed, bringing heavy snow to lower elevations.
About 700,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy were in the dark early Friday and about three-fourths of the circuits were down in the company's nine-county service area, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
When repair crews were sent to assess damage "they've had to pull back," Thompson said. "It's just been too hairy out there."
Some customers won't have their lights back on for days, he said.
Other utilities reported about 300,000 customers without power.
The Hood Canal Floating Bridge, which links Washington's Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which links Seattle and its eastern suburbs, were closed because of high wind gusts. The Hood Canal bridge was reopened Friday after about nine hours.
In Oregon, Portland General Electric reported that power had been lost to about 245,000 of its customers - about 30 per cent of its service territory.
"That shows you the effect of the combination of wind and downed trees can have," said Mark Fryburg, a PGE spokesman.
Pacific Power, which covers most of the rest of the state, reported 105,000 customers had lost electricity by Thursday night.
The Oregon Department of Transportation closed three major highways crossing the Cascade Range because of fallen trees or downed power lines, and winds gusted to 145 kilometres an hour along the Oregon coast.
The U.S. National Weather Service said rainfall was expected to be as high as 20 centimetres on the coast and 13 centimetres in the Cascade Range, with snow at higher elevations.
Seattle public schools were closed Friday, as were numerous smaller school systems and The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
A satellite image taken at 1145 Zulu time on December 14, 2006 shows a storm system moving inland across parts of the Pacific Northwest. A wind storm, packing gusts of 90 miles per hour, has left more than 260,000 customers without power in the Pacific Northwest on Friday, local power companies said. (NOAA/Handout/Reuters)
Ben Morris stands next to the espresso stand he owns, called 'Divine Grounds,' Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006, south of Seaside, Ore., which avoided the fall of a 60-foot tree during a storm. Morris checked on the stand, located on U.S. Highway 101 after the tree fell Thursday afternoon. (AP Photo/The Daily Astorian, Lori Assa)
It was fun. Not only did we have gale force winds, we had two inches of rain in about 4 hours.
It got pretty wild here in North Idaho last night - not as bad as the coast, but 60mph gusts brought down enough trees and power lines to close all the schools today.
Received a call from a client, their High Voltage AC unit on top of their building was blown off of its (bolted) foundation.
Very windy last night in Portland but damage wasn't bad
uPdate
4 dead as storm batters Northwest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061215/ap_on_re_us/northwest_storm
SEATTLE - Howling windstorms and heavy rains caused at least four deaths, closed bridges and highways and cut power to about 1.5 million homes and businesses in Washington and Oregon, authorities said Friday.
One of the concourses at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport lost power, and an airport spokesman said some flights were canceled.
About 30 flights were scratched at Portland International Airport, a spokesman said, and Amtrak canceled service between Portland and Seattle.
A 41-year-old Seattle woman died Thursday after she became trapped in her basement while it flooded. Neighbors had called for help after they heard screaming.
A 28-year-old man was killed while he slept when the top of a tree snapped off and crashed into his home in a trailer park in McCleary, 18 miles west of Olympia.
Elsewhere in Washington, two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees.
In Edmonds, north of Seattle, about 50 residents of an assisted living facility were evacuated after a tree crashed through the third floor, flooding the building, Snohomish County emergency management officials said. No injuries were reported, and residents were sent to other facilities.
In King County, which includes Seattle, drenching rain slowed commuters to a crawl. Colder temperatures moved in Friday as the storm passed and winds calmed, bringing heavy snow to lower elevations.
Some Puget Sound Energy customers won't have their lights back on for days, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
The Evergreen Point floating bridge, which links Seattle and its eastern suburbs, remained closed early Friday and numerous other highways were blocked because of high water or windblown trees. The Hood Canal floating bridge, which links Washington's Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge were reopened early Friday after being closed Thursday evening because of wind gusts up to 74 mph.
The Oregon Department of Transportation closed three major highways crossing the Cascade Range because of fallen trees or downed power lines, and winds gusted past 90 mph on the Oregon coast.
The National Weather Service said rainfall was expected to be as high as 8 inches on the coast and 5 inches in the Cascade Range, with snow at higher elevations.
Rain drenched Qwest Field in Seattle just before kickoff of the NFL game between the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. The rain left standing water on the field, and about 30 minutes before kickoff, a power surge briefly knocked out the large video screens at both ends of the stadium.
Seattle public schools were closed Friday, as were numerous smaller school systems and The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
My daughter works for Microsoft in Redmond. They were closed all day due to power outages. LOTS of tree damage everywhere, apparently.
Electricity was just turned on back in my neck of the woods (north Seattle). I had to go to work today just to get some light, heat & Internet. People probably don't realize how cloudy it can be here. The fact that it's daytime doesn't mean there's a lot of daylight; so it's twice as dark when there's no electricity.
Coming into campus, I saw a lot of branches down, but no trees. I did see a blown out window in the apartment building next door. I have some emergency light sources, but this storm has shown me I need more!
I still have my power out. I live in Burien, and power is out from West Seattle to Federal Way, a stretch of about 15 miles.
Jeez. I just got home. The power and heat are on, baby!
I hope you don't end up being one of those customers who won't get the power back for a 'few days,' as the utility rep said this a.m. : (
Got my power back in Shoreline around 5:15 PM.
I started at 10:30 this morning, drove from Burien out to Duval to help my M-in Law who lost power AND roof. Fixed the roof and drove her to Arlington for safety, drove back to West Seattle to pick up the grand kid, went back to Burien, dropped off Wife and Grand kid, then drove to work in Auburn. Plot that on a map and tell me I didn't have a day!
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