In brief: Winter storm moving in, expected to bring more snow
The National Weather Service in Spokane issued a winter storm warning for Eastern Washington and North Idaho on Saturday ahead of a storm that was expected to start dumping several inches of snow in the valleys and up to 2 feet of snow in the mountains.
Light snow was expected to start late Saturday night and become heavier this afternoon. Between 4 and 7 inches of snow is expected in Spokane by tonight and the Coeur d’Alene area could see up to 10 inches.
The storm warning is in effect until 4 a.m. Monday. On Monday temperatures are expected to rise and turn the precipitation to rain in Spokane. Freezing rain is possible in some areas.
“Down in the Palouse we’re expecting them to get some ice,” said Mark Turner of the National Weather Service. “It looks like it should stay mostly snow in the Coeur d’Alene area.”
There is a chance that Spokane could see some freezing rain Monday, Turner said. “We don’t have a high confidence of that,” he said.
Car rolls back, pinning woman, teen under door
A 79-year-old Kootenai County woman was trapped under her own car early Saturday afternoon after it slid backward.
The incident happened about 1:15 p.m. Saturday outside her home in the 2300 block of North Hayden Road. The woman parked her 2000 Ford Excursion and it either rolled or slid backward as she tried to exit, said Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Stu Miller in a news release.
A 17-year-old boy saw that the woman was stuck behind the door as the car rolled and tried to come to her rescue, Miller said. Instead, the car pushed both of them across the road and over an embankment, pinning them under the door.
The teen was able to get out from under the car, but the woman had to be extracted by the Northern Lake Fire Department. She suffered significant injuries as well as possible hypothermia and was transported to Kootenai Health, Miller said. The teen had minor injuries and was treated and released from Kootenai Health.
The crash is under investigation.
North Central-area fire ruled accidental, started on stove
A fire that damaged an apartment in a converted house Friday afternoon has been ruled accidental, said Spokane Fire Battalion Chief Craig Cornelius.
The fire began on top of a stove in a first-floor apartment at 903 W. Augusta Ave., about three blocks west of North Central High School. Firefighters were able to keep flames from spreading to adjacent units.
The building had suffered from a series of false alarms in the last month and many residents in the eight apartments did not evacuate when the alarm sounded. Firefighters rescued several residents and helped them outside.
A man who was burned and suffered smoke inhalation has been released from the hospital, Cornelius said.
An estimate of what it will cost to repair the damage wasn’t available, Cornelius said.