Tens of thousands without power in Pacific Northwest; 2 killed

Associated Press

SEATTLE — A strong Pacific storm system that triggered mud flows in wildfire-scarred areas of California also slammed the Washington state and Oregon Sunday, threatening coastal flooding and causing power outages affecting tens of thousands of people in the Pacific Northwest.

Two people were killed when a tree fell on a vehicle in the Seattle area. Eastside Fire & Rescue responded to the scene of the fatalaties near Preston, which is about 25 miles east of Seattle.

Wind gusts topping 60 mph also downed trees on I-90 east of Seattle and cut power to more than 150,000 customers in the metro area and around Puget Sound. In Oregon, about 25,000 customers lost power in Portland and the northwest part of the state, according to The Oregonian.

More power outages are possible through Monday, Samantha Borth, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle, told The Seattle Times.

Forecasters issued severe thunderstorm warnings with damaging winds and hail possible for the Oregon coast and Portland area as well as northwestern Washington.

The weather service urged mariners to stay in port due to heavy seas, with waves up to 25 feet accompanied by 50-mph wind gusts capable to eroding beaches and causing coastal flooding from northern Washington to central Oregon. Dangerous conditions were expected to continue overnight into Monday.

Conditions were expected to slowly subside on Monday.