A state Department of Transportation worker was injured Jan. 19 near Lynnwood while on his way to help out with another collision as icy roads caused havoc for the morning commute.
The drive was an obstacle course composed of ice, snow, freezing rain — and oranges.
Kris Olsen, a state transportation department spokeswoman, said the accident involving the state worker occurred on I-405 just east of where the highway crosses over I-5.
The severity of the worker’s injuries weren’t immediately known but required hospital treatment.
“We had a DOT worker injured while responding to another collision,” Olsen said. “We don’t know yet what caused the collision.”
The National Weather Service issued an ice-storm warning for the Puget Sound area, including parts of Snohomish County, through noon Jan. 19.
Areas from Seattle south should absorb the brunt of the storm, weather service meteorologist Danny Mercer said.
Mercer said ice storms are rare in the Puget Sound region, and so are warnings about the trouble they can cause.
“I don’t even know the last time we did this,” he said.
The weather could leave a half-inch coating of ice in some areas south of Seattle, he said.
Schools and colleges were closed across Snohomish and Island counties again on Jan. 19 with the exception of Darrington, which was opening its classrooms late.
Snow-choked roads became even more slick as nighttime freezing mixed with fresh snowfall in some neighborhoods and elsewhere freezing rain.
Traffic was light and sprinkled with spinouts.
“It’s very nasty out here compared to yesterday,” Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary said.
One notable crash involved a northbound semi-truck carrying a load of oranges that slipped off I-5 at Lynnwood near the interchange with I-405. The big rig went on its side about 2 a.m., and was still tangling traffic in the area into mid-morning.
A warm front is spreading over cold air trapped at the surface, the weather service said. The result is freezing rain that is falling over compact snow and ice.
The added weight of ice was snapping power lines and bringing down trees.
At daybreak, about 4,000 homes were without power, primarily in eastern and northern parts of the county, PUD spokesman Mike Thorne said. That peaked at around 10,000 homes Jan. 18.
Crews were expecting more outages as the weight of ice and snow brings down more tree branches into power lines.
Downed lines caused at least two vehicle fires in east Monroe, Fire Marshal Mike Fitzgerald said. Meanwhile, a large tree toppled across Olympic Boulevard in Everett.
Elsewhere, the state Department of Transportation closed Highway 18 in King County because ice had knocked down two dozen trees into the roadway.
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