7 rescued from Puyallup River after water engulfs camp
PORTLAND, Ore. – The latest on heavy rains in the Pacific Northwest:
8:45 a.m.
Seven people who were swept into the Puyallup River from a riverbank homeless camp in western Washington have been rescued.
The News Tribune newspaper reports someone called 911 around 6:30 am. Wednesday to report people were in the river up to their waists and chests beneath the State Route 512 overpass.
Puyallup police Capt. Scott Engle says they were apparently swept into the water during the storm. All seven were pulled out of the river by Central Pierce Fire & Rescue by 8 a.m. and checked by paramedics.
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8 a.m.
A mudslide has closed State Route 2 just west of Leavenworth in the Cascade Range. Highway 2 is one of the main east-west routes over the mountains in Washington state.
Trooper Darren Wright of the Washington State Patrol says mud was 10 feet deep in some places on the highway Wednesday morning.
The other main highway over the mountains, Interstate 90, also is experiencing weather-related problems.
The right lane of westbound I-90 was closed Wednesday morning because of water on the road.
A mudslide also has closed roads in Woodinville and Fall City.
The National Weather Service says wind and rain are expected to slow Wednesday, but snow may continue to fall in the mountains.
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7:15 a.m.
Several Washington state school districts are either closed or getting late starts Wednesday because of a rain and wind storm that is starting to subside.
The National Weather Service says wind and rain are expected to slow Wednesday, but snow may continue to fall in the mountains.
Flood warnings remain in effect for nearly a dozen rivers in Washington state.
More than 70,000 homes and businesses are without power in western Washington on Wednesday morning, while 26,000 Portland General Electric customers in Oregon were in the dark.
At Sea-Tac Airport, where the official weather for Seattle is recorded, the weather service says 2.13 inches of rain fell on Tuesday. That beats the previous Dec. 8 record of 1.61 inches. The airport also recorded a record high of 60 degrees on Tuesday.
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6:50 a.m.
The Oregon Department of Transportation says landslides and high water have closed parts of many state highways. Some of the hardest-hit areas were near the Oregon Coast, which was hammered overnight by heavy rain that has inundated the Pacific Northwest in recent days.
Strong winds knocked out power to many homes in the region. In Washington, Puget Sound Energy reported more than 70,000 power outages as of 5:30 a.m. Portland General Electric says crews are trying to restore power to 26,000 customers.
Flood warnings remain in effect in both states.
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6:20 a.m.
A tree crashed into a Portland, Oregon, home, killing a 60-year-old woman, as the Pacific Northwest was inundated with another night of heavy rain.
Lt. Rich Tyler of the Portland Fire Bureau says the front corner of the house was completely sheared from the back of the house early Wednesday. Firefighters stabilized the home so they could remove the tree and recover the body, which has been sent for an autopsy.
The woman’s brother and husband, who were also in the home, escaped uninjured.
More than 5 inches of rain have fallen on Portland since Sunday. The flooding in Oregon and Washington has unleashed landslides, flooding and wreaked havoc on transit systems.