Winter Storms Kill 8, Force Thousands Into Emergency Shelters Across Pacific Northwest

At least eight people are dead as a result of the killer winter storms sweeping through the Pacific Northwest, which also left over 85,000 without power and over 1,000 in public emergency shelters.

Areas in southwest Washington and western Oregon experienced a brutal ice storm Wednesday morning, heaping additional misery to the damage left by a powerful winter storm that took place over the weekend, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting. 

Parts of the impacted region — which includes Oregon’s most populated cities of Portland, Salem, and Eugene — is forecasted to receive up to an inch of ice, while Seattle, Washington, is expected to get freezing rain. 

OPB blames at least eight deaths on the snow and harsh winds that raged Saturday and Sunday. Those included the death of a man whose Lake Oswego house was struck by a fallen tree and a woman who was in a vehicle destroyed by another tree in Portland, trapping her in the fire that ensued. 

Five more Oregon residents are believed to have died of hypothermia, authorities said.

State transportation officials closed 47 miles of Interstate 84 due the threat of ice, and 13,236 Washingtonians and a whopping 72,950 Oregonians remained without power as of noon on Wednesday.

The Pacific Northwest is more used to rain and fog than Arctic blasts, so some residents are considering themselves lucky. 

“We’re lucky to be alive,” said Justin Brooks, who had to use a chainsaw to cut up the trunks of two massive trees that barely missed his Lake Oswego home after they fell Saturday. 

“In the Portland area, some two dozen commuter buses suspended service or were being detoured to avoid dangerous roads since storms walloped the area a few days ago,” the public network reported, adding that multiple school districts canceled classes citing power outages, burst pipes, and unsafe conditions. 

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

Multnomah County authorities extended a state of emergency until Wednesday and also provided a record-high number of 12 emergency overnight shelters for residents.

Officials said 1,181 people slept in the shelters Monday night, breaking the previous night’s record of 1,136, according to the Daily Mail. 

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

The weather is expected to get warmer later on Wednesday, which may provide some relief to the area.