Oregon's Umatilla County hit hard by storm

PORTLAND — Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has declared a state of emergency for Umatilla County in northeastern Oregon to help cope with a Pacific storm that spread high winds and damage through parts of the state.

"We actually had houses that had their roofs blown off," said J.B. Brock, emergency-services manager in neighboring Union County.

The storm that slammed into the West Coast Friday interrupted travel on the two main interstate freeways in Oregon and forced the closure of the Mount Ashland ski area near the California border due to blizzard conditions.

One woman was killed in Southern Oregon when a tree crushed her car. Rosetta Carlson, 50, was on her way to work in Central Point on Friday when the tree toppled after a night of heavy wind and rain, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office said.

In northeastern Oregon, a 13-year-old Pasco girl died and four relatives were seriously hurt when their car slid and rolled on an icy patch of Interstate 84. Oregon State Police say Jazmin Garcia was ejected from the back seat and died at the scene of the crash Saturday west of Huntington.

In Washington, the westbound lanes of Interstate 82 between Yakima and Ellensburg were closed for three hours Friday night after ice caused more than a dozen vehicles to crash or lose control. Four people were treated for minor injuries at area hospitals.

The freeway was closed again for more than three hours Saturday to remove a semitruck and trailer involved in the Friday night pileup.

The storm's impact in Western Washington was comparatively mild. Seattle City Light said power was restored by 10 a.m. to the nearly 700 customers who woke up Saturday with no electricity.

Wind gusts left people in Magnolia north of Discovery Park without power, and hit some neighborhoods in North Seattle early Saturday.

Farther south, about 1,500 customers lost power late Friday night in outlying Thurston County as high wind gusts hit the region, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman said. The Rochester and Tenino areas were most affected.