Northwest hopes for reprieve from powerful storm
Icles can be seen on a Hawaiian Airlines plane as others are de-iced in the background, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Seattle. On the heels of heavy snow that fell Wednesday, the Western Washington region was hit with an ice storm Thursday that closed runways at the airport and stranded hundreds of travelers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Surrounded by mounds of new snow on the deck tables at Mount Bachelor, Ore., snowboarder Lori LaBissoniere, 31, of Bend . looks out towards the Pine Marten Lift, which was among several lifts that were closed due to storm conditions on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/The Bulletin, Andy Tullis)
Annalise Bauman, 7, East Wenatchee, Wash., hangs on her family's dog, Hunter, as she is pulled down a sledding hill - apart from her sled - and into facefulls of powder snow at Sterling Intermediate School in East Wenatchee, Wash., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. Hunter is a one-year-old lab mix. Annalise's father, Karl, said they brought the dog to try him out for this and he says next time, they'll fit Hunter with a harness. (AP Photo/The Wenatchee World, Don Seabrook)
Passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport look toward an electronic board listing canceled or delayed flights, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Seattle. On the heels of heavy snow that fell Wednesday, the Western Washington region was hit with an ice storm Thursday that closed runways at the airport and stranded hundreds of travelers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
People work to protect homes and businesses along State Street against flood waters from Mill Creek, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 in Salem, Ore., (AP Photo/Statesman-Journal, Danielle Peterson)
A Delta Air Lines plane is sprayed with de-icing fluid prior to take-off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Seattle. On the heels of heavy snow that fell Wednesday, the Western Washington region was hit with an ice storm Thursday that closed runways at the airport and stranded hundreds of travelers as flights were delayed or canceled. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Port Orchard Marina resident Mitch Glover builds a snow igloo in front of the A Dock gate in Port Orchard, Wash. on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Kitsap Sun, Meegan M. Reid)
Sledders, skiers, snowboarders and pedestrians take over a snow-covered street in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. As snow started falling on Seattle Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service scaled back the amount expected in western Washington but said it would still be a significant event. The total in the city would likely be 3 to 6 inches, meteorologist Dustin Guy says. More is likely in southwest Washington, 4 to 8 inches, while less is expected in the northwest interior, 1 to 2 inches. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Travis Barrett leans back as a chunk of tree springs upward after his cut with an electric chainsaw, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 in Seattle. An ice storm followed heavy snow in western Washington, bringing down trees that killed one person and knocked out power for about 100,000 homes while sending cars and trucks spinning out of control. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Steve Ringman) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; SEATTLEPI.COM OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
With the Space Needle in the background, Lynne Wyllie tosses a snowball in a downtown Seattle park Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, in Seattle. As snow started falling on Seattle Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service scaled back the amount expected in western Washington but said it would still be a significant event. The total in the city would likely be 3 to 6 inches, meteorologist Dustin Guy says. More is likely in southwest Washington, 4 to 8 inches, while less is expected in the northwest interior, 1 to 2 inches. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
SEATTLE » A powerful Pacific Northwest storm knocked out power to about 250,000 electric customers around Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia after it coated much of Washington in ice and swelled Oregon rivers, killing a child and two adults. Besides the outages, the big concern now is more flooding in both states with warmer temperatures and rain.
Most of those affected are customers of Puget Sound Energy, which said it had restored service to 87,000 customers who lost power in the snowstorm that began Wednesday. But the utility it could take into the weekend or later to get the power back on for the roughly quarter million additional homes and businesses still in the dark.
The unusually strong system temporarily shut down Seattle’s airport Thursday. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air canceled 310 flights to and from Seattle Thursday and Alaska Air said it was canceling 50 flights on Friday.
The National Weather Service said warming temperatures Friday should melt snow and ice in Western Washington lowlands as the forecast returns to normal — rain — into next week.
Forecasters said the melting snow could cause urban and small stream flooding and fill the Skokomish and Chehalis rivers above flood stage by Saturday evening.
The storm knocked down so many trees that Washington State Patrol troopers brought chainsaws in their cruisers to hack through the obstacles.
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It also left three people dead: a mother and her 1-year-old boy, killed after torrential rain swept away a car from an Albany, Ore., grocery store parking lot; and an elderly man fatally injured by a falling tree as he was backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a backyard shed near Seattle.
More than 50 downed trees on railroad tracks and the threat of more falling forced Amtrak officials to close service between Portland and Seattle on Thursday morning. The closure continued Friday.
It was still snowing in the Cascades, with up to 2 feet possible in the mountains over the weekend. In Eastern Washington, forecasters expect more snow Friday or freezing rain before warming temperatures on Saturday raise the snow level above the valley floors in some areas.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency, authorizing the use of National Guard troops if necessary.
Oregon should see a break in the rainfall for some hours before another front comes in, said meteorologist Paul Tolleson in Portland, Ore.
“We’ll have decent fronts for the next 24 to 36 hours. It’ll be just enough rain to make people nervous,” he said.
Officials in Spokane declared a snow emergency, banning parking along arterials and bus routes beginning Thursday evening. The City of Seattle asked people to get home before dark if possible, fearing even worse icing conditions by nightfall. And authorities told pedestrians to be extra careful on sidewalks and to look out for “falling ice from trees, buildings and power lines.”
The National Weather Service said the last widespread freezing rain in Seattle was in December 1996.
The weather system also dropped snow on Washington’s Mount Rainier, where four people were reported missing. A search was suspended at nightfall but was to resume Friday.
In the Willamette Valley town of Scio, Ore., many residents evacuated as the city manager said water was pouring down Main Street.
Officials in the city of Turner, Ore., issued a voluntary evacuation order to people, asking them to flee to higher ground as floodwaters from the rising Mill Creek swept through town.
To the west of Oregon’s Coast Range, residents were being moved out of Mapleton, Ore., with a population of about 900.
Near Reno, Nev., winds gusting up to 82 mph pushed a fast-moving brush fire south out of control on Thursday as it burned several homes, threatened dozens more and forced thousands to evacuate their neighborhoods.
The storm system also brought blowing snow to northwest Colorado as high winds battered the Front Range, with more heavy snow expected over the weekend.
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Cooper reported from Albany, Ore. Associated Press writers Doug Esser, Ted Warren, Shannon Dininny, Rachel La Corte, Nigel Duara and Nicholas K. Geranios contributed to this report.
