Deadly Winds Buffet Northwest

A deadly Sunday windstorm, with gusts of up to 115 mph, left behind downed trees and powerlines and the threat of avalanche throughout the Pacific Northwest. At least two deaths were attributed to the storm.

Much of the damage was felt along the Oregon coast, reports Correspondent David Okarski of CBS affiliate KOIN-TV. Hundreds of thousands of residents lost power in Washington and Oregon and down trees and wires shut roads across the region.

Hien Nguyen, 19, of Lacey, was killed around noon Sunday when a 120-foot fir tree blew down on his pickup truck, crushing the cab, said police Lt. Matt Koehler.

"It was a freak accident," Koehler said. "The tree just fell down in the windstorm, and it happened to fall down on this guy who was actually traveling at a slow rate of speed."

A 50-year-old Seattle architect died in an avalanche at the Crystal Mountain ski resort, about 65 miles southeast of Seattle near Mount Rainier. He and another skier had hiked into a closed area when the avalanche struck at about 1:30 p.m. His identity was not released.

Interstate 90, running between Seattle and Spokane, was shut down periodically Sunday as crews set smaller avalanches to remove the danger of larger slides engulfing the roadway, said Clarissa Lundeen, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

"The snow that has already fallen is being weighted down by rain and wet snow" creating high danger of avalanches, she said.

Blown-down trees and limbs caused most of the power outages, utility officials said.

"The winds came from the south and moved from the coast inland across the Puget Sound," said Kristin Willman, a National Weather Service spokeswoman.

The weather service reported sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour, with gusts up to 50 mph. In southwest Pacific County, winds reached 85 to more than 100 mph. One gust of 115 mph was registered on the Oregon coast.

A house in Netarts, Ore., was blown 12 feet off its foundation in one large gust.

A small craft advisory was in effect this morning but the dangerously high seas had settled down from their peak waves of 37 feet on Sunday.

East of the Cascade Range in Washington, the storm brought wind gusts of more than 50 mph in the Spokane area, along with mixed rain, snow and hail late Sunday morning. Unseasonable lightning also accompanied the storm.