Deadly crashes, mass power outages reported as atmospheric river brings flooding and strong winds to Oregon and Washington
An atmospheric river brought monster waves, high tides and strong winds to batter western Oregon and Washington. The weather led to fatal crashes, power outages and flooded homes on Tuesday.
Although conditions in western Oregon became less intense on Wednesday, forecasters warned that the respite would likely be short-lived, as another storm system made its way south from Alaska, according to the National Weather Service.
Strong winds felled trees and and knocked out power lines across large swaths of the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, cutting power for more than 160,000 people at certain points. Wind gusts reached 86 mph near Cape Perpetua on Oregon's central coast and 107 mph near the iconic Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, said Andy Bryant, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service's Portland office.
Utility companies have progressively restored power, but more than 30,000 people in Oregon were still affected by outages as of 5 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to online tracker PowerOutage.us.
Portland General Electric and Pacific Power — among the utilities reporting the highest number of outages — both said they had hundreds of service crew members, including from out of state, working to assess and repair damage.
Three people were killed, including a 4-year-old girl, when severe weather caused a large tree to fall on their pickup truck as they were driving on U.S. 26 about 15 miles east of the coastline, Oregon State Police said in a news release. The passengers were deceased when first responders arrived at the scene.
Further east on U.S. 26 on Mount Hood, a motorist was killed when a large tree fell on the cab of the commercial truck he was driving because of snow and strong winds, causing it to lose control and leave the highway, state police said. The 53-year-old driver, who was alone in the truck, was pronounced dead at the scene.
In Washington state, thousands of residents east of Seattle remained without power Wednesday afternoon after the previous day's wind storm caused extensive damage to power lines in and around North Bend and Snoqualmie.
Gerald Tracy, a spokesperson with Puget Sound Energy, told KOMO-TV that power was expected to be restored to the area around 10 p.m. Wednesday, with the caveat that additional problems could push that timeline back.
"It is mountainous terrain, more rural areas, where sometimes our crews will have to hike out on foot and use hand tools to take care of the situation," Tracy said.
High tides known as king tides and heavy rains caused water to spill into more than a dozen homes in Seattle's South Park neighborhood, The Seattle Times reported.
Reasmey Choun, who lives on the ground level of a two-story home in the neighborhood, woke up before 8 a.m. to the sound of water coming inside. Within an hour, it had settled above the doorknob of the front door.
Choun, her mother, niece and dog escaped through a window wearing robes and slippers, and got into her mother's SUV that was parked on higher ground.
Choun went back inside to grab her laptop for work, but everything else — the carpet, the furniture, her birth certificate — was submerged or floating.
"We lost everything," Choun said.
Tuesday's storm system also brought massive waves, high tides and flooding to the region. Wave heights reached 30 feet along the Oregon coast, the National Weather Service said.
"In situations like this, we recommend that people stay off the beach entirely," said Brian Nieuwenhuis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Medford office. "I'd be very concerned about anybody going out on the beach and very concerned about any infrastructure located close to the surf zone."
Storm surges flooded parts of Washington state, including Seattle, where some residents of the South Park neighborhood kayaked through the streets and used buckets to clear their homes of water.
A record high tide of 18.4 feet submerged parts of the state capital of Olympia and washed jellyfish over the shoreline onto the city's streets, officials said.
"Jellyfish washed over the shoreline and into our streets," said Olympia Water Resources Director Eric Christensen. "There was a woman who was kind enough to rescue them and put them back into Budd Inlet."
Other areas around Puget Sound also saw flooding, which trapped cars and impacted buildings.
A coastal flood advisory is in effect for the Seattle area through Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service bureau in Seattle said on Twitter that annual rainfall in the area this year officially surpassed the usual yearly total — by a fraction of an inch — after the recent flood. Forecasters warned of the potential for additional flooding around the Puget Sound on Wednesday, although they noted that weather conditions will likely be milder in the days to come than they were on Tuesday.
"With 0.27" at @flySEA [Seattle-Tacoma International Airport] Tuesday the yearly rainfall total is 39.52" surpassing the yearly normal rainfall for Seattle which is 39.34"," wrote NWS Seattle in a tweet shared early Wednesday morning.
"More flooding around the Puget Sound this morning around the time of high tide but not nearly as bad as Tuesday," the bureau's tweet continued, adding that they expect to see "calmer weather for the next week."
The weather conditions also forced the full or partial closure of several Oregon state parks at a time when whale watchers and holiday tourists typically flock to the coast.
Oregon State Parks announced emergency closures for Ecola and Cape Meares because of high winds and the potential for falling trees. The day-use area at Sunset Bay State Park near Coos Bay was closed because of extreme high tides and flooding.
Cape Meares is one of 17 sites hosting Oregon's Whale Watch Week, which is returning in-person this year for the first time since the pandemic. During the event, which started Wednesday and lasts through Sunday, volunteers help visitors spot gray whales during their annual migration south.
The park anticipated reopening on Wednesday, but people were advised to visit later in the week if possible, said Oregon State Parks spokesperson Stefanie Knowlton.
