3 killed, thousands without power in Northwest windstorm

Police said a woman in her 50s was killed Tuesday when a tree toppled in Spokane, and another died when a tree fell on her auto southwest of Spokane.

Debris from a fallen tree is pictured during a strong storm in Seattle, Washington November 17, 2015.

In Portland, Oregon, an 80-year-old woman spent the night trapped in bed after a tree fell on her home, missing her by inches.

One of the victims was a motorist who died in Monroe, a city in Snohomish County, according to Merlin Halverson, the country’s fire chief.

A wind storm is barreling through the Northwest United States causing massive chaos, leaving a million people without power and at least three people dead, according to the Weather Channel. Avista is reporting about 142,000 customers are without power as of 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Two mudslides blocked Highway 2 between Skykomish and Deception Falls, the state Department of Transportation said.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District tweeted that about 130,000 of its customers lacked power.

A windblown tree snapped off and struck a King County Metro Bus in the north Seattle suburb of Shoreline, sending the driver to the hospital with neck and back pain. About 40 miles northeast of Seattle, Skykomish River was flooding downtown Sultan, prompting residents and business owners to place sand bags and leave for the night.

Spokane’s Avista Utilities says they expect it could take at least three to five days to restore power to the majority of its customers in the Spokane area.

The Cheney and Spokane campuses of Eastern Washington University closed Tuesday afternoon because of high winds.

The city closed schools after winds up to 70 miles per hour (113 kph) tore through the area.

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

Several highways also remained closed, including a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in OR that authorities declared impassable into midday Wednesday.

The storm that originated in the Gulf of Alaska could be a harbinger of El Nino, the ocean-warming phenomenon that’s predicted to bring heavy rain to the West in the coming months, said Kathy Hoxsie of the National Weather Service.