Storm Kills Two and Leaves 360000 Without Power in Washington State

Puget Sound Energy reported nearly 178,000 customers without power in its Western Washington area Tuesday night as trees toppled onto roadways and. lines power An electrical power failure at a Tacoma sewer treatment plant resulted in waste water sewage releasing in the lower Puyallup River for a limited while.

The three victims were all killed by falling trees as winds of more than 100mph hit areas of the Inland Northwest.

Two women near Spokane died, a spokeswoman for Spokane County told CNN. Their identities were not yet available.

Crews in Spokane were working to clear at least 175 fallen trees, with officials urging people to say off the road on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Avista Corp. was trying to restore service to more than 142,000 customers, most in Spokane County and northern Idaho.

To the north, in Snohomish County, the public utility district reported roughly 20,000 customers without power.

The utility expects to have it restored before noon.

“Many roads are closed from downed trees, active power lines, flood waters”, Halverson said.

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.

The woman, who had a few scratches but was not hurt, was helped out of the house by firefighters.

She told officials that she had gone to bed earlier than usual Tuesday because her home lost power in the storm. The tree landed on the roof of the car’s over the seat of the driver, killing him immediately, said Fire Chief Merlin Halverson.

The city closed schools after winds up to 113km/h tore through the area. Also shut down were Gonzaga, Whitworth, Washington State-Spokane and Eastern Washington universities.

“Gusts 50-60 miles per hour possible”.

The utility said about 100,000 customers were still without power early Wednesday.

“Given the typical ratio of power customers to actual people, this means at least 1 million people were affected by power outages in Washington alone”, said meteorologist Nick Wiltgen.

The National Weather Service says much of Puget Sound region was under flood watches and warnings through Wednesday afternoon.

The storm dumped over a foot of snow in a few parts of the Plains and winds created snow drifts several feet high.