12/15/2006

Associated Press

Heavy rains, strong winds and thunderstorms blasted Western Washington on Thursday, claiming three lives while closing major bridges, inundating roads and knocking out power to tens of thousands.

Two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees while a third person died after firefighters rescued her from her flooded Seattle basement.

State crews began closing the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, one of two main bridges linking Seattle with its eastern suburbs, at 10 p.m. Thursday, after winds gusted to 63 mph.

The Interstate 90 floating bridge, the other major route across Lake Washington, remained open.

Earlier in the evening, the Hood Canal Floating Bridge, linking the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas west of here, was closed after winds there gusted to 74 mph, the state Department of Transportation said.

On the Washington coast, 70 mph gusts were recorded at Ocean Shores, the National Weather Service said.

A 41-year-old Seattle woman died after spending eight minutes in rising water after she became trapped in her basement while the room flooded. Neighbors had called for help after they heard screaming.

The woman had gotten stuck in the windowless room after floodwaters blocked the only door out, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said. Firefighters cut a hole in the floor of the room above and pulled her out. Medics began CPR and transported her to Harborview Medical Center but hospital spokeswoman Pamela Steele said the woman died.

In Pierce County south of here, two motorists died in separate storm-related accidents, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

A married couple in their 30s had stopped their small pickup truck because of trees down on a road in the rural southeast part of the county when another tree fell and crushed their truck, Troyer said. The woman was killed and the man was cut from the wreckage and taken to Madigan Army Medical Center in critical condition.

In the other accident, a man died on the Mountain Highway near Roy when he swerved his car to avoid a fallen tree and collided with another tree, Troyer said. The victims were not immediately identified.

"We're asking everybody to stay home," he said. "There isn't a place in east Pierce County that's not dangerous."

The state's largest utility, Puget Sound Energy, had "tens of thousands" of customers without power Thursday night, according to spokeswoman Dorothy Bracken.

In Snohomish County, north of here, some 60,000 customers lost power Thursday and 35,000 were still without power late Thursday night, said spokesman Neil Neroutsos of the Snohomish County Public Utility District.

Seattle City Light reported roughly 15,000 outages.

On the coast, about 1,400 Grays Harbor Public Utility District customers also lost power.

The Weather Service issued flood warnings for a handful of rivers in Western Washington but forecaster Jay Albrecht said flooding was expected to be less severe than last month's blast that led to federal disaster declarations.

In Everett, north of Seattle, winds gusted to 52 mph, Albrecht said.

Winds gusting above 50 mph were reported in downtown Seattle.

Windblown trees briefly closed numerous highways around the western part of the state, the Transportation Department said.

Rain drenched Qwest Field in Seattle just before kickoff of the NFL game between the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. The rain left standing water on the field, and about 30 minutes before kickoff, a power surge briefly knocked out power to the large video screens at both ends of the stadium.

A burst of strong wind, rain, thunder and lightning rolled through Seattle during the early part of the football game, Albrecht said.

Nearly an inch of rain pelted down in one hour at the Weather Service's north Seattle office.

That intense rain was blamed for widespread urban and small stream flooding.

Rain and standing water caused numerous Thursday evening traffic jams. On Mercer Street, a major Seattle arterial, television video footage showed a BMW and another vehicle swamped by high water. There were no reports of injuries there.

In the 24 hours ending at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, the Weather Service said the Mason County city of Shelton recorded 2.19 inches of rain, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport received 1.09 inches, Olympia had 1.53 inches, Hoquiam on the coast had 1.83 inches, and Maple Falls in the Cascade foothills east of Bellingham had 1.46 inches.

The Coast Guard closed a number of river bar entrances on the Washington coast — including the Columbia River, Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay and the Quillayute River entrances — meaning vessels could not cross the bars without permission.

"The bars will remain closed until search-and-rescue capabilities are restored," the Coast Guard said in a news release.