Weather

Wet snow crashed through the auditorium roof at Sandpoint High School on Monday, leaving a 40-foot-wide hole. The metal roof, insulation and twisted wooden trusses blanketed most of the auditorium's 300 seats. District officials estimated damage at about $100,000.

1. When a floatplane doesn't. A crew works Monday to salvage a Cessna floatplane that flipped over and sank in Hayden Lake last week. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review (Photo in Idaho edition only) 2. John Cooley skims snow off the roof of Simon's Do-It Center in Coeur d'Alene. (Photo in Idaho edition only)

The Northwest was pummeled by its second major storm in less than a week Sunday as 2 feet of snow, heavy rain and high winds blocked major highways with avalanches, buckled roofs and closed the Space Needle. Snow was piled by bone-chilling gusts as powerful as 90 mph in northwestern Washington. Heavy rain added to the misery, creating an icy glaze that led to flood warnings for parts of Oregon and Western Washington. "Basically, we're paralyzed," said Neil Clement, director of emergency management in Washington's Whatcom County. "Even the snowplows are getting stuck."

The death toll from a tropical storm that lashed northern Borneo with powerful winds and flash floods has reached 163, police said Monday. Tropical storm Greg hit Thursday, leaving 11 districts flooded and more than 25,000 people homeless. About 5,600 are still at relief centers, the news agency Bernama reported. Most of the victims - 146 people - were found Keningau, a logging town 95 miles from the Sabah state capital of Kota Kinabalu, police inspector Hussein Yusof told the Associated Press.

1. Jerry Bass checks damage to his Western wear store. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review 2. Snow and debris cover merchandise at Bass' Western Wear. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

1. The inside view. Walt Wagner drives a city snowplow on Boone Avenue on Friday afternoon. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Radio operator Lois Slater makes a call while keeping an ear to the radio Friday for city street crews.

Coeur d'Alene street crews plow through residential areas after the latest batch of snow was dropped on the region. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

1. Travelers swamp the Alaska Airlines ticket counter at the Spokane airport Friday morning. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Blaize Naasz, left, from Madison, Wis., and Jared Budd, from Thermopolis, Wyo., wait at the Intermodal Transportation Center. They arrived in Spokane Friday morning and are waiting for buses to Oregon. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Highway crews chew their way through the snowslide that covered I-90 near the Idaho-Montana border Friday afternoon. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

From the Pacific Ocean to the east flank of the Rockies, the monotony of roads coated with ice and packed snow is broken only by the occasional stretch of deep snow. Some mountain passes are closed, and chains are required on others. Drifts cover many country roads, while city streets are axle-deep in white crust.

Among the travelers stranded overnight on Snoqualmie Pass were some from Honolulu and Los Angeles. At first, "they were in shock," said Heidi Jeffery, general manager of the Summit Inn. But then the tanned visitors grew to like the snow, and decided one day after the holiday was close enough to call it a white Christmas.

Toby and Erin Whitaker chop away Friday at thick ice that was left on their Troutdale, Ore., driveway by Wednesday's wintry storm. Photo by Associated Press

Pulling corpses from the branches of trees, searchers recovered bodies Thursday from the path of a tropical storm that brought deadly flooding to the west coast of Borneo. The death toll reached 111 and was expected to climb, The New Straits Times reported in today's editions. Tropical Storm Greg blew in Wednesday night from the South China Sea, filling waterways to overflowing.

This winter may be the first in more than 10 years that the state will feed the Panhandle's deer and elk herds. Idaho Department of Fish and Game is ready if the continuing winter storms start cutting off food for wildlife.

After breaking one shovel handle, Troy Meyer continues to remove snow from his grandfather's roof in Post Falls. Meyer hoped to prevent more damage, such as the carport that partially collapsed during last month's ice storm. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Crews look at some of the more than 30 power poles toppled by ice in Gresham, Ore., on Thursday. Photo by Associated Press

Inland Northwest residents who recall heavy snows of years past may be looking nervously at their roofs and wondering "How much is too much?" While the strength of a roof depends on many factors - the era it was built, the load it was designed to handle and how well it has been maintained - the short answer probably is: Don't worry yet. Jim Manson, Spokane County buildings director, said homes in Spokane built since 1974 are required to have roofs that hold at least 30 pounds per square foot. Houses built in higher elevations may have roofs that hold twice that weight or even more.

The Cascade Curtain became an impenetrable wall for holiday travelers Thursday as avalanches and blinding storms closed every route over the mountains in Washington. Commercial flights into and out of Seattle also were delayed by severe weather west of the Cascades. Portland International Airport lost power for three hours during an ice storm reminiscent of the one that knocked Spokane to its knees before Thanksgiving.

Waiting to dig out Linda Graham and her husband Ted wait for a city snowplow to clear the street in front of their home on the 2100 block of West Fairview on Thursday afternoon. Rick Sims drives the grader. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review