A man was killed on Sunday after a windstorm pushed a large pine tree onto his car. He had been driving a navy blue station wagon in the upper loop of Seward Park.
A female toddler in the car was transported to Harborview with minor injuries, according to a Seattle Fire spokeswoman.
The tree is among many trees and branches that fell in a powerful windstorm that picked up around noon in Seattle, causing outages across the region and the closing of the 520 bridge.
The 520 bridge, which connects Seattle and the Eastside, was closed in both directions because of high winds and lake water splashing onto the highway.
According to Seattle City Light, more than 41,000 customers were without power on Sunday afternoon.
SR 520 floating bridge is closed due to high winds. All vehicles stuck on bridge being turned around & flushed out. pic.twitter.com/2liBDnbSbw
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) March 13, 2016
Many of those outages were due to trees falling on power lines. The utility asks that people assume the power lines are electrified.
Seattle Department of Transportation reported hearing of wired down on Thorndyke Ave West near West Raye Street in Queen Anne, blocking both directions of traffic.
Downed power lines on Aurora Avenue North have closed the roadway to traffic around North 93rd Street.
Power outages were reported throughout South Seattle and in Northeast Seattle. There are scattered outages in Renton.
Metro said transit service delays were expected because of the high winds. Some bus routes could be rerouted, the agency said. Metro bus routes 255, 271 and 545 will travel via I-90 instead.
Discovery Park in Magnolia had a peak wind gust of 66 miles per hour at 4 p.m. Winds are expected to die down around 5 p.m. on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
https://youtu.be/fXNni1mcA1U?t=2m25s
[asset-images[{"caption": "Powerful winds launched an evergreen tree onto a station wagon in Seward Park, killing the driver. A female toddler was transported to Harborview with minor injuries.", "fid": "124788", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201603/windstorm__2_of_3_.jpg", "attribution": ""}]][asset-images[{"caption": "The upper loop trail in Seward Park, where a tree fell on a station wagon. The male driver was killed; a female toddler survived. ", "fid": "124790", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201603/windstorm__3_of_3_.jpg", "attribution": "Credit Seattle Fire Department"}]]Other reports throughout the area:
- A semi-truck tipped over on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
- The Port Townsend to Coupeville ferry has been canceled.
- A roof blown off in Lake Forest Park.
- Snohomish Public Utility District reported 7,000 people without power.
SR104 Hood Canal Bridge closing to vehicles so drawspan can be opened to relieve pressure from high winds.
— WSDOT Tacoma (@wsdot_tacoma) March 13, 2016
[asset-images[{"caption": "A downed tree limb in Seattle's Whittier Heights neighborhood, a northern part of Ballard. A windstorm Sunday resulted in winds of up to 60 miles per hour in parts of the city.", "fid": "124791", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201603/whittier.jpg", "attribution": "Credit Northwest News Network/Phyllis Fletcher"}]][asset-images[{"caption": "A tree felled by wind on 112th Street Northeast, east of Forbes Creek Drive in Kirkland.", "fid": "124792", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201603/kirkland__1_of_1_.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Kim Malcolm"}]][asset-images[{"caption": "Wind peeled back the roof of this home in the 19000 block of 33rd Avenue Northeast in Lake Forest Park. Connor Decatur lives in an apartment on the property. He said he and his girlfriend had just returned home when the gust hit, sending pieces of the roof down into the driveway.", "fid": "124793", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201603/20160313-LFP-storm.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Gil Aegerter"}]]
