Ice Storm Cripples Seattle Area
On Wednesday, much of Washington State was blanketed by snowfall, but residents in the Seattle area faced an additional burden as an ice storm crippled the typically rainy city during the early hours of Thursday morning.
Much of the Seattle community has been affected by the ice storm with 200,000 homes and businesses across the city having been reported without power on Thursday. Roads have been shut down and downed trees are visible across the city.
The situation became so dangerous that Wash. State Governor Christine Gregoire declared a state of emergency in the city by early Thursday morning. The declaration would enable to governor to deploy National Guard troops to her snow and ice-ravaged state. Thus far, no troops have been deployed.
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So far, one man was killed as a result of the ice storm and a transportation worker was also injured due to a crash caused by the slippery terrain. Dozens of car accidents were caused by the ice storm, but no car accident related deaths have been reported.
Seattle's airport was temporarily closed down due to the ice and fears abounded that structures across the city would collapse under the weight of the snow and ice.
The last time Seattle faced an ice storm of this magnitude was back in 1996 and schools across the city were shut down on Thursday as a result of the impact.
The Seattle area and parts of southwest Washington are currently under a storm warning that is expected to last until 2 p.m. local time.
The ice storm follows a heavy snow storm in which some parts of Washington saw up to a foot of snow.
"It's like a storm in slow motion that keeps happening again and again," Puget Sound Energy spokesman Roger Thompson told The Associated Press.
Prior to the storm, forecasters predicted that Seattle would face its worst snowstorm in decades.
