PORTLAND, Ore. — A rare winter storm blew into the Willamette Valley on Sunday, forcing cars to crawl along slick roads and temporarily closing a section of I-5 in the most heavily populated area of Oregon.
“I think people were caught by surprise because it was ahead of the forecast by about 10 hours,” said Dave Thompson, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman.
Conditions got so bad in Portland that chains were required for travel on all highways in the metro area.
“We don’t normally do that,” Thompson said. “That’s how serious it is.”
Up to 4 inches of snow were expected, with local accumulations possibly reaching 8 inches.
“When it finally started to snow it came down fast and furious,” Thompson said. “Literally in half an hour, I-5 turned from clear and normal into a parking lot.”
I-5 was closed briefly along a set of twisting hillside curves leading to downtown Portland but had reopened to traffic before noon.
A collision on Interstate 84 near Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge had caused delays of up to an hour or longer, and traffic on U.S. 26 was moving very slowly after the westside freeway was briefly closed with snow piling up at the summit in Portland’s West Hills.
The road conditions were especially bad because temperatures fell below freezing quickly, turning rain from the previous two days into ice, which the first snow rapidly covered.
“It’s still treacherous,” Thompson said. “Traffic on I-5 is moving about 3 mph.”
The Portland Bureau of Transportation warned the public not to go out in the storm, and said icy conditions were expected to last through today.
City crews were on full callout, working two 12-hour shifts in a 24-hour period with all available resources devoted to storm response, including spreading deicing chemicals, laying sand and gravel, and plowing, said Cheryl Kuck, bureau spokeswoman.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning in effect until late Sunday night and advised against travel except for emergencies.
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