Oregon I-5 Section Collapses
Tens of thousands of people shivered for a third day without electricity Thursday after a severe ice storm snapped trees and power lines in parts of the Northwest.
Throughout Oregon, Washington and North Idaho, rain, snow and sub-freezing temperatures claimed lives and damaged property.
The death toll from this week’s storms rose to at least 10 in Washington and Oregon early Thursday as a man and woman died in their Spokane Valley trailer.
Gov. Mike Lowry activated the Washington National Guard to help deal with the power outages. The guard will bring 15 power generators to provide pumping capacity for drinking water and for firefighting, Maj. Gen. Gregory Barlow said.
In Western Washington, about 4,400 customers of Puget Sound Power & Light remained without power.
A rain-weakened section of Interstate 5 collapsed Thursday morning near Roseburg, Ore., leaving a 40-foot-deep sinkhole that swallowed one tractor-trailer and damaged another.
Both drivers walked away from the mangled rigs with minor injuries.
The collapse happened at about 1:15 a.m. and one southbound lane was reopened by 7 a.m. Repairs to the northbound side were estimated to take up to a month.
The I-5 collapse near Roseberg created a chasm measuring about 100 feet long and 40 feet deep. A triple trailer plunged into the hole.
Another truck managed to swerve and avoid the chasm, but lost control, smashed through the concrete median barrier and sprawled across the southbound lanes.
That truck ran over the foot of a motorist who had gotten out of his pickup truck to wave down traffic. The motorist’s foot had to be amputated, authorities said.
Truck driver Albert Wilkinson, 57, of Gresham, recalled going around a dark curve when the roadway collapsed beneath him.
“There was just a big bang, and then the whole tractor was just disintegrating,” he said from his bed in Mercy Medical Center, where he was treated for a puncture in his leg and a bump on the head. “I couldn’t get my seat belt undone, my leg was pinned in there.
“I looked back and there was a huge gaping hole and three trailers down in it.”
Five deaths have been blamed on heavy rain that swept through the state this week.
Gov. John Kitzhaber declared emergencies in Lane, Douglas and Coos counties.