Northwest States Contend With Damage Slide Kills Another In Oregon; Storm Slickens Montana Roads

While Spokane County continued to struggle with icy mess left by Tuesday’s storm, other parts of the Northwest contended with snow, water and mud as well as power outages and slick roads.

Washington

Western and central Washington began to recover Wednesday from the storm that hammered the region Tuesday.

Andy Muntz of the Snohomish County Public Utility District said only about 400 of their customers remained without power. At least 40,000 were out at the height of the storm.

Puget Power said 25,000 customers were still without power Wednesday, down from 110,000 on Tuesday, said spokeswoman Kristen Wappler.

In central Washington, more than 14 inches of snow fell in Yakima, tying an 87-year record for a 24-hour period. Up to 22 inches was reported in Tieton.

Across the entire Yakima Valley, 6,500 of Pacific Power’s customers were still without electricity Wednesday.

Major road conditions in state included:

All roads in Washington were open Wednesday except for Washington 20, the North Cascades Highway; and Chinook and Cayuse passes on the eastern edge of Mount Rainier National Park, which are closed for season.

Interstate 82 between Yakima and Ellensburg and Washington 821 in Yakima Canyon, cars require traction tires and trucks require chains.

Washington 504, the Mount St. Helens Highway, requires traction tires for cars.

Washington 24, between Yakima and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, requires traction tires for cars and chains for trucks.

Oregon

A woman found dead Wednesday in the Umpqua River became the fifth victim of this week’s record storm, and authorities searched for others still missing.

Road crews clearing debris off Oregon Highway 38 found Delsa Lynn Hammer, 48, of Coos Bay, in her car when the river receded.

The car apparently had been pushed into the river by a mudslide 14 miles east of Reedsport, said Douglas County sheriff’s Capt. Robert Stratton.

The storm claimed four lives when a mudslide swept through a home northwest of Roseburg Monday evening. There were many close calls.

On the coast, two men suffered minor injuries Tuesday night when their car plunged 200 feet down an embankment on Otter Crest Loop between Newport and Depoe Bay.

Driver Steven George of Depoe Bay didn’t realize a mudslide had stolen about 300 feet of the road, Oregon State Police Sgt. Guy Dorman said. George, 47, and his 15-year-old son, Nicholas, were treated for cuts and bruises.

Most rivers were falling by Wednesday afternoon, although the Willamette River was predicted to crest near Corvallis and Albany overnight, and near Salem today.

The Oregon National Guard supplied drinking water to four communities - Pleasant Hill, Mapleton, Cottage Grove and Powers - where supplies were contaminated by flooding.

Power had been restored to nearly all of the 150,000 customers who lost electricity.

Another storm was due tonight, concentrated in southwest Oregon, but was not expected to bring as much water, said meteorologist Steve Starmer of the National Weather Service.

At Oregon State University’s Parker Stadium, pumps sucked water off the football field just days before Saturday’s Civil War game between Oregon and Oregon State.

In the Columbia Gorge, heavy snow Monday night destroyed the 100-year-old Shaker Indian Church at The Dalles, and pens for thousands of pheasants in Dufur. Hundreds of the birds milled about homeless Wednesday morning, but rancher Bob Alexander expected they would soon become meals for coyotes and owls or be struck by cars. He estimated he lost 7,000 out of 12,000 birds, at $9.50 a head.

Meanwhile, a town called Drain in southwest Oregon didn’t live up to its name - Elk Creek floodwaters there infiltrated about 100 houses.

“My house doesn’t always look like this,” said Donna Kent, her carpet squishing with each step as she surveyed the damage. “It really doesn’t.”

Montana

Montana’s first winter storm of the season dumped its snow and left most of the state Wednesday, but it left behind frigid temperatures, icy highways and downed power lines.

The storm dropped heavy snow accumulations in some parts of the state, incuding 19 inches in Libby, 15 inches in Kalispell, 12 inches in Superior and Glasgow, 10 inches in Missoula, 9 inches in Helena and 8 inches in Great Falls.

Roads throughout the state were mostly snowpacked and icy, and state transportation officials warned drivers to be prepared for winter driving conditions - including sub-zero wind chill temperatures and stretches of black ice.

Montana Power Co. crews were working round-the-clock to restore service in isolated areas. Spokesman Cort Freemen said about 7,000 MPC customers were without power at some point Tuesday, though most had power restored by Wednesday.

Schools were closed in many areas Tuesday, including Hamilton, Darby, Corvallis, Victor and other scattered communities.