6 Dead As Windstorm Slams Northwest
High Winds, Heavy Rain Leave Millions Without Power
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Play CBS Video Video Storm Pounds Pacific Northwest A destructive windstorm hit the Pacific Northwest, killing at least four people and leaving millions in the dark. John Blackstone reports on the region's worst storm in at least a decade.
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Video Weather Stalls Mt. Hood Search Brutal conditions stalled the search for the three missing climbers on Mount Hood, but a note they left behind indicated they were well-equipped and brought new hope to searchers. Jerry Bowen reports.
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Video Storms Pound Northwest Storms from Washington to Oregon left millions of residents without power and the rain triggered floods. Manuel Gallegus reports that four people have died.
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Kae Lamberton of Auburn, Wash., tries to salvage what she can by reaching through a window of her mobile home after three trees fell on her home and vehicles, Dec. 14, 2006. (AP Photo/King County Journal)
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A Douglas fir tree splits a home in half after falling during an overnight storm in Coquitlam, B.C., Friday, Dec. 15, 2006. Strong winds and heavy winds caused power outages and downed trees blocked many roads throughout the Northwest. (AP PHOTO/CP, Richard Lam)
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Pacific Power linemen Marc Buti, left, and Chris Murphy work to repair a power line that was damaged by a fallen tree, Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, knocking out power to the Gold Hill, Ore., area. (AP/Medford Mail Tribune/R.Musitelli)
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A flashlight and candles aid seven-year-old Samantha Shumway as she plays the piano for her Christmas recital despite a power outage, Creswell, Ore, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006. (AP/The Register-Guard/Chris Pietsch)
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Duke Baltera of Wenatchee, Wash., looks over the damage to his home early Friday morning, Dec 15, 2006. High winds blew down trees that landed on his house. Everyone inside escaped without injuries. (AP Photo)
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Photo Essay Snowbound On Mt. Hood Climbers missing on blizzard-ravaged Oregon peak.
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Interactive Winter Watch See photos of wet and snowy days across the country, and check out snow accumulations and airport delays.
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Winds gusted to a record 69 mph about 1 a.m. Friday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Winds were clocked at 90 mph near Westport, on the coast.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport's concourses until late Friday morning. Dozens of flights were canceled, including all American Airlines service through the morning hours. Flights were also canceled at Portland International Airport in Oregon, and Amtrak passenger train service was canceled between Seattle and Portland after downed trees and mudslides blocked the tracks.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer went unpublished for the first time since a 1936 labor strike, because electricity was knocked out at its printing press, managing editor David McCumber said. The Seattle Times, which shares the press, had only about 13,000 copies available Friday morning. Late Friday, a Times' spokeswoman said Saturday editions of both papers would be printed and delivered.
Seattle public schools were closed Friday, as were numerous smaller school systems.
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.
“There was water completely filling the basement — 100 percent, all the way up the stairs,” a neighbor told CBS News.
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 state, two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees.
And on the Oregon coast, an elderly couple died in a house fire caused by candles they were using during a power outage.
Puget Sound Energy, Washington's largest private utility, had 700,000 customers without power on Friday. Some will not have their lights back on for days, spokesman Roger Thompson said.In Oregon, about 350,000 customers lost power, and repairs to restore all of them could stretch into next week, utility officials said.
It was the most intense storm to hit the region since a storm on Jan. 20, 1993 that killed five people and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- I am in Seattle. It was a very rough night. I am used to earthquakes here and there. They shake the building for a few seconds and then it's over. Last night's wind was worst than the 6.2 earthquake a few years ago. It shook my apartment building all night long. I thought something was going to fly through the window.
-Lydia - Reply to this comment
- Soon, the Pacific Northwest will begin to get a taste of higher insurance premiums. Those of us from the Carolina's to the Keys are already being dumped or bled by those same companies...
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