Deadly Oregon Storm Another Deadly Instance Of Winds/Ice And Tree Destruction

A severe wind storm, then an ice storm, socked Oregon
last week, causing a total of 10 deaths and
causing widespread damage. 

 While we were paying attention to all the fallen trees, power outages and property damage in the big Vermont wind storms earlier this month, a somewhat similar, larger scale problem was happening in Oregon.   

An ice storm struck parts of the Portland, Oregon area Wednesday, killing three people and toppling scores of trees and power lines.  

The three people died when a power line fell on an SUV.  The occupants tried to get out of the vehicle and were electrocuted. Note: If a power line ever falls on your car stay inside until emergency responders tell you it is safe to get out. 

The ice storm deposited ice up to one inch thick, causing numerous other power lines and trees to break. The storm made driving and even walking all but impossible. 

The three ice storm deaths added more tragedy to the seven Oregon deaths blamed on severe windstorms in the days before the freezing rain.   One woman died when trees, transformers and electrical wires fell on an RV, sparking a fire from which a woman could not escape.

Another death was caused by a tree that crashed through the second floor of a home, killing a man inside.

Tree service workers in the Portland area said they had never seen so many downed trees on houses, never mind the ones that just fell across streets, power lines and back yards. 

According to a Monday report on Oregon Public Radio:

"Lisa Tadewaldt, an arborist with Urban Forest Pro in Portland, told OPB that her business has been flooded with calls from people who had trees crash into their homes. It could be days before some trees are removed. 

'The amount of trees on houses, it's the most it's ever been,' Tadewaldt said, 'I don't know what the insurance claim numbers are going to be, but they're going to be high. It's going to be insane.'"

Fallen trees were also blocking roads, preventing police, rescue and fire personnel from reaching emergencies. 

While rescue crews were dealing with a tree in Lake Oswego that fell on a house and killed a man, another tree smushed a car just two doors away.  At least 20 homes in that town were damaged by falling trees, says Oregon Public Radio. 

After those winds, the ice storm hit. 

Several storms have collectively caused widespread damage through most of the United States this month. Although there was an intense cold wave in the past week, most of the month across the Lower 48 has been warm, with frequent instances of high winds and heavy rains. 

The storminess has diminished somewhat, and temporarily, but there's more bad news on the horizon for Oregon and elsewhere.

Weather is finally improving in Oregon, though a series new, warmer storms are bringing rains to the region. The combination of rain and melting snow and ice could cause a little flooding, around Portland. Worse, an atmospheric river is expected to cause possibly more substantial flooding in southwestern Oregon and northern California over the next few days.

An ice storm is brewing in Arkansas.  Now that a hard freeze in eastern Texas and Louisiana is departing, the region is now bracing for heavy rain and flooding during the first half of the upcoming week. 

At least for this week, the storms are not expected to come near enough or be strong enough to cause damaging weather here in Vermont.  

 Videos:

News report of one Oregon neighborhood with very serious damage from downed trees. Click on this link or if you see image below, click on that: 

In hard-hit Lake Oswego, Oregon, one couple had to hack their way out of their house with an axe after fallen trees blocked their exit from their badly damaged home: Again, click on this link or if you see it click on the image below:

And here's video of an extreme ice storm this past week in Springfield, Oregon. Looks as bad as the Vermont ice storm of 1998 . Click on this link or view below