Deadly winds cause havoc in Seattle, Vancouver

Seattle/Vancouver, Dec 16: A storm packing heavy rains and winds gusting at more than 145 km/h slammed into an already-soggy Pacific Northwest, killing three people, officials said yesterday.

A Seattle, Washington, woman drowned in her flooded basement, and more than a million electrical customers were left without power in British Columbia, Washington state and Oregon as wind-toppled trees took down utility lines.

The high winds began hitting the Pacific Coast region of Canada and the United States late on Thursday, and had begun to slow as daybreak arrived on Friday, but not before gusts of up to 111 km/h were recorded by weather forecasters in Seattle and 95 km/h in Vancouver, British Columbia, early this morning.

Local media and utilities reported wind gusts of more than 90 mph. It was the third wind storm to hit some parts of the region this week.

The winds forced officials to close key bridges in Vancouver and Seattle, causing havoc for morning commuters in both cities as some mass transit operations were also disrupted.

Seattle's 41-year-old drowning victim had apparently gone into her windowless basement, but was unable to open a door to get out because of the water pressure, local media reported, quoting a fire department spokeswoman.

Two other deaths in Washington state were blamed on traffic accidents caused by falling trees.

No deaths were reported in British Columbia.

Puget Sound Energy estimated about 700,000 customers, or about two-thirds of its customers had lost power. ''The storm's ongoing damage rivals, and may even exceed, the notorious Inaugural Day storm of 1993,'' The Washington state utility said.

British Columbia Hydro said an estimated 250,000 customers were without power in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, where crews were still struggling to repair damaged from storms that had hit earlier in the week.

''We're just now getting a grasp on how bad the damage is,'' a spokeswoman said. ''We're cautioning customers to prepare for multiple days without electricity.'' Oregon's Portland General Electric Co. said it was trying to restore service to 180,000 customers in that state.

Seattle's two daily newspapers did not publish on Friday because of power outage at their joint printing operation.

REUTERS