Winds wreak havoc

SEATTLE – Fierce winds downed trees and power lines across Western Washington and Oregon on Saturday, leaving at least 160,000 homes and businesses in the dark.

A Kalama woman – Ingrid J. Davis, 38 – died while driving near the Wahkiakum-Cowlitz County line in southwest Washington when a tree fell on her car, the Washington State Patrol reported.

There were no immediate reports of other deaths, injuries or widespread property damage. But traffic had to be diverted off some roads in the region because of flooding, shifting or sinking asphalt, falling trees or downed power lines.

The storm forced closure of the floating bridge that takes State Route 520 across Lake Washington east of Seattle for the first time in nearly seven years.

High water, heavy winds and a mudslide prompted a 48-hour shutdown of passenger rail service north of Seattle.

Washington State Ferries shut down the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry run connecting the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island because of choppy waters on Puget Sound.

And Seattle’s zoo shut down because of concerns that winds would topple trees.

In the coastal town of Westport, the Grays Harbor County Emergency and Risk Management Office said some waterfront motels were evacuated as a precaution.

KBKW Radio in nearby Aberdeen said several boats broke loose from their moorings in Westport overnight. Some small campers were blown into the water, and the seawall that protects the marina suffered minor damage, the station reported.

About 20 miles south of Aberdeen, some parts of Raymond were under 2 feet of water, KBKW reported. Traffic in downtown Raymond was limited to emergency vehicles.

The National Weather Service said it had received reports of 45-mph winds in Seattle, with gusts over 50 mph in West Seattle. Gusts of more than 60 mph were reported in Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula.

The 520 bridge, one of two spans connecting Seattle to its eastern suburbs, was closed in both directions around 9:30 a.m., after winds exceeded 50 mph, the state Department of Transportation said. The closure was expected to last 12 hours.

Crews opened the draw span at the center of the bridge to relieve pressure on the 42-year-old span, Transportation spokeswoman Melanie Coon said. The last time it was shut down during a storm was in March 1999, she said.

Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Lynn Carlson said many of the utility’s 140,000 customers without power should be back online by midday today, but hard-hit areas – particularly in Kitsap, Jefferson and Island counties west and northwest of Seattle – could be without power for several days.

There were also outages in Thurston and Pierce counties south of Seattle, and in part of King County north of the city. Seattle City Light said it had about 20,000 customers without power.

Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF Railway Co., said the railroad ordered a 48-hour shutdown of passenger rail service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, at 1:25 p.m. Saturday.

Crews were working to clear a 3-foot-deep mudslide north of Seattle’s Carkeek Park.

Melonas said the closures affected Amtrak service and Sound Transit’s Sounder commuter trains, which run in the morning and evening commute hours Monday through Friday. Bus service was being arranged.

The closure did not halt freight traffic.

Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Susan Harris said service on the Port Townsend-Keystone run would not resume until the windy weather subsided.

Storm damage at the Clinton ferry dock at the south end of Whidbey Island was causing some delays there, and ferries were running behind schedule on most other routes, Harris said.

To the east, the weather service said heavy snow and wind in the Cascades would make driving conditions “treacherous.”

A coastal flood warning was scheduled to remain in effect through 6 a.m. today, with swells as high as 35 feet, the agency said. Powerful waves were expected to cause “extensive beach run-up, substantial erosion, and possible damage to structures along exposed shorelines,” the weather service said.

Forecasters said the weather would begin clearing up today, after a chance of early morning showers. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies throughout the rest of the week.

“We’re due for a brief break here,” said Danny Mercer, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Seattle office.