Snowstorm Leaves Portland Reeling `There’s Been About 8 Zillion Accidents,’ Police Report

Up to 10 inches of snow brought traffic to a virtual standstill in the state’s largest city Sunday as a winter storm blasted Oregon on the heels of a week of record high temperatures.

Hundreds of cars were stuck, disabled or abandoned along U.S. Highway 26 west of the city. Many drivers simply pulled over and stopped because of ice caked on the road and low to zero visibility from the swirling snow. The weather service reported wind gusts up to 40 mph.

Driving conditions were no better within the city limits.

“There’s been about 8 zillion accidents,” said Lt. C.W. Jensen, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau. “If there’s not an accident somewhere just wait a couple minutes.”

Speed’s Towing in Portland recorded 1,700 calls for service from midnight through 9 p.m., with motorists waiting anywhere from 30 minutes to 9 hours for a tow.

“We have probably about 85 to 90 trucks working in this area, and we’ve been very busy,” said Mike Porter, dispatch manager.

“We’re running strictly emergency calls, meaning an accident or someone blocking an intersection,” he said.

One driver lost control of her car on a slick roadway and landed in the path of a commuter train, said fire spokesman Neil Heesacker. The train hit the car from behind, but none of the three occupants was seriously injured.

The MAX train and all its passengers emerged unscathed, said Steve Johnson of the Tri-Met transportation district.

Buses, hobbled by tire chains, were running sporadically on alternate snow routes. One local taxi cab company reported a five-hour waiting list.

About 10 inches of snow had fallen in downtown Portland through 9 p.m., with another low pressure area poised off the coast, the National Weather Service reported.

“We’ll continue to see snow tonight,” said meteorologist Dave Willson. “It will taper off later on tonight. But we’ll have more as this pressure system rotates inland.”

Meanwhile, about 8,000 customers scattered throughout the Portland area lost power when snow-laden tree branches drooped or fell onto power lines.

“It’s bad if you’re out of power but it’s not widespread,” said Scott Guptill, spokesman for Portland General Electric. “We haven’t lost substations, knock on wood.”

The outage caused problems for an 11-year-old girl in northeast Portland whose ventilator machine shut down when the house lost power, Heesacker said. A backup power source worked only 15 minutes before the battery died.

The girl was taken by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Hospital to wait out the storm, he said.

Snow accumulations of between four and six inches were reported around the metropolitan area, with drifts up to a foot, the National Weather Service said.

Oregon State Police and the state Department of Transportation were urging people from Salem to Portland to stay home if possible. Traffic was a mess along Interstate 5, the main north-south route through the state.

Driving conditions also were treacherous in Eastern Oregon. Several accidents were reported on Interstate 82 between Umatilla and Kennewick, Wash.

Pendleton was getting an inch of snow per hour Sunday night, with 6 to 7 inches already on the ground, the weather service said.

The miserable weather struck early Sunday, just four days after warm weather set a record in Portland. Wednesday’s high of 64 degrees broke the old mark of 60 degrees in 1970.