The Pacific Northwest braces for a new round of ice and freezing rain after deadly weekend storm

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Pacific Northwest braced for freezing rain and ice on Tuesday as tens of thousands of residents battled a dayslong power outage caused by a weekend storm that left at least seven dead.

Freezing rain was forecast in the Seattle area, and parts of southwestern Washington and western Oregon — including the state’s largest cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene — were under ice storm warnings, with meteorologists calling for an ice storm until early Wednesday. half an inch of ice. . Warmer air was expected to provide some relief starting Wednesday.

Although the Pacific Northwest is known more for its rain and does not experience the arctic temperatures or significant snowfall that blankets other parts of the US, the heavily forested area is especially prone to the danger of falling trees and power lines, especially during freezing rain . and ice storms.

Freezing rain falls as water, but freezes when it hits roads and other cold surfaces. It can weigh down trees and power lines, making them heavier and more likely to break, especially in high winds. Previous ice storms in 2017 and 2021 paralyzed the area and left hundreds of thousands of people without power.

Oregon transportation officials closed 47 miles of Interstate 84, a major east-west highway that runs from Portland through the Columbia River Gorge, due to icy weather forecasts.

“Ice accumulation is creating some of the most treacherous driving conditions, and the interstate is being closed to keep everyone safe. We will reopen when conditions improve,” the Oregon Department of Transportation said in a news release.

The weekend weather of snow and high winds was blamed for at least seven deaths, including a man who died when a tree struck his home in Lake Oswego, a suburb south of Portland, and a woman who died when a tree struck a recreational vehicle crashed. in Portland, trapping her and starting a fire, authorities said.

“We’re lucky to be alive,” said Lake Oswego resident Justin Brooks as he used a chainsaw Tuesday to cut the trunks of two massive trees that narrowly missed his home when they toppled on Saturday.

Elsewhere in Lake Oswego, arborist Ryan Cafferky climbed a towering 150-foot tree on Tuesday to begin the arduous process of cutting it down. The city considered the 120-year-old tree a threat to the public because it was in danger of falling, he said.

Carol Flannery watched as Cafferky, strapped into a harness, worked to remove the huge tree from her property. In addition to its age, cracks and mold around the roots also made it dangerously susceptible to tipping, she said.

She said arborists told her that “we need to fix this quickly because it’s going away.”

Five people in Oregon are believed to have died of hypothermia in temperatures hovering in the teens and 20s, authorities said.

About 52,000 people in Oregon were still without power as of Tuesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks power outage reports. The National Weather Service warned residents to prepare for more power outages.

The ice storm forecast prompted Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district, to cancel classes Tuesday and Wednesday. It amounted to additional missed days of in-person learning for students following a teacher strike in November that closed schools for about three weeks.

Courts, libraries and parks were also closed in Portland and other parts of Multnomah County.

County officials extended the state of emergency until Wednesday afternoon and decided to keep a record 12 overnight severe weather shelters open for an extra night on Tuesday. The province said 1,181 people were sleeping in shelters Monday night, breaking the previous night’s record of 1,136.

Officials issued an urgent appeal for volunteers, citing high demand for shelter services in an area where thousands of people live outdoors and are at risk of exposure to the cold.

“The real constraint for us right now is staffing levels,” said Dan Field, director of the county-city joint homelessness office. “We need to have enough people to keep the doors of the emergency shelters open.”

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Associated Press journalist Jennifer Kane in Lake Oswego, Oregon, contributed to this report.