Winds Batter Area; 1 Man Killed -- 88-Mph Gusts Wipe Out Power, Close Bridges

Wind gusts up to 88 miles an hour ripped across the Puget Sound area today, tearing roofs from homes, prompting the closure of both Lake Washington floating bridges, tipping over a taxiing float plane and knocking out power to more than half a million customers in Western Washington.

A man was killed by a falling tree, and two others were injured, as they tried to clear the Maple Valley Highway.

The gusting winds, from the south, began about 8 a.m. Shortly after, Seattle and King County police had rescuers en route to Arrowhead Point between Juanita and Kenmore on the northeast side of Lake Washington, where a float plane flipped over. Five people clung to a pontoon before being rescued.

At the University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences building in Seattle, an 88-mph gust was recorded by an instrument on the roof. The winds uprooted trees, shattered windows, blew pieces of plywood at construction sites and caused problems for mariners.

The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge - Highway 520 across Lake Washington - was closed and the drawspan was opened shortly after 9 a.m. to relieve pressure from wind and waves. Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Southern said winds were clocked at 80 mph.

Later in the morning, the Interstate 90 floating bridge was closed, also.

At mid-span of the 520 bridge, waves were splashing over eastbound cars that were stranded when it was closed. The bridge was rocking and rolling.

"The waves look like an ocean," said Times reporter Steve Johnston, reporting by cellular phone. "They're crashing over the top of my car. When you stop, the car keeps moving."

Said Nicole Morrison, a Metro bus passenger: "I was worried about just flying over and toppling in."

The stranded vehicles were directed to do U-turns and head back westbound. The bus and a truck had to back up the whole way.

The hardest-hit utility was Puget Power, the state's biggest utility. More than 400,000 customers were without power - half its service area.

Customers without electricity should expect to be powerless for more than 24 hours, said Seattle City Light spokesman Scott Forslund.

There were numerous reports of boats torn from their moorings in Puget Sound and on Lake Washington. The Coast Guard said a large raft of logs moored to pilings near Renton at the south end of the lake broke loose.

The seaplane that toppled, a single-engine de Havilland Beaver, had just taken off about 8:45 on a regularly scheduled flight from Lake Washington to the San Juan Islands when the wind whipped up, said Leslie Banks, a spokeswoman for Kenmore Air Harbor.

The pilot turned back shortly after takeoff, but the plane flipped as he was taxiing back to the dock.

All four passengers and the pilot managed to get out of the plane and sat on the pontoons until help arrived, Banks said.

The new wave of bad weather was accompanied by heavy snow in the Cascades, where that, traffic accidents and a high avalanche danger kept Interstate 90 closed for several hours yesterday. In the mountains, heavy snowfall was predicted through tonight, with accumulations of up to two feet.

In addition to the power outages, which also shut down the Legislature in Olympia, high winds prompted road closures.

High winds also forced cancellation of Puget Sound ferry runs on the Edmonds-Kingston route, as well as passenger-only ferry runs to and from Seattle.

In the Maple Valley fatal accident and injuries, at least four trees fell around the men as they worked, said Keith Lawson, a Bonneville Power Administration employee.

The witnesses said one man suffered a back injury and another had a leg injury. King County police spokesman Bob Beck confirmed the fatality but had no further information.

The National Weather Service said a powerful low-pressure system was in northern Puget Sound at 10 a.m., moving northeast at about 60 mph. Winds were to decrease to 20 to 30 mph with a few higher gusts by early afternoon.

Among the effects of the storm:

-- Electricity: Seattle City Light reported 92,000 customers without power, mostly in the South End. Tacoma City Light also reported that thousands of customers lost power.

Power also was knocked out throughout Issaquah shortly after 9:30 a.m., although telephones were still in operation.

The entire Sammamish Plateau and Coalfield, in the south end of the district, were without power, and fire stations in those areas were on back-up generators.

About 35,000 South Snohomish County residents were without power this morning, according to a spokesman for the Public Utility District of Snohomish County. Another 10,000 residents scattered around Camano Island, Stanwood and south to Clearview also lost power. Winds were reported about 50 mph in Everett.

-- Wind damage: The Space Needle was closed.

On the 36th floor of the Seafirst Fifth Avenue Plaza in downtown Seattle, a receptionist in the U.S. Attorney's office said, "The building is really swaying and a lot of people are getting sick.

"You can't keep your balance walking down the hall and the elevators hit the side of the elevator shaft when they come up," she said.

At Ballard Cleaners, 1512 N.W. Market St., windows and signs were blown out by the wind.

In Tukwila, a 60-foot-high sign came crashing through the roof of Industrial Crating and Packing at 15450 Nelson Place S. In Burien, wind knocked out the plate-glass window at the new temporary library on Southwest 152nd Street. In SeaTac, a woman at Pacific First Bank on Pacific Highway South said she saw roofing fly off a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport building.

On Lake Union, houseboat owners wrestled with moorage lines.

In the University District of Seattle, a woman broke her leg when she was knocked down.

In downtown Tacoma, Pantages Theater operations manager Don Brown reported windows were being blown out of buildings. Brown said he could hear periodically shattering glass up and down the street, and that shards were scattered across the roadway at Broadway and Ninth streets.

-- Schools: Many schools closed; others coped without power. Older students were dismissed early, but younger students were kept at school because of the dangers of the wind and because homes were without power - and parents.

Mercer Island, for example, was sending all its 3,000 children home. But teachers were hanging on to those children whose parents couldn't be reached.

The Seattle School District closed eight schools, sending 4,000 students home. Most of the closed schools were high and middle schools.

"Welcome to the Twilight Zone," said Judy Parker, spokeswoman for the Kent School District. Fourteen of 33 schools in Kent lost power.

-- Cable-television: Service in the area was out intermittently, interrupting coverage of the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.

-- Newspaper delivery: Because of power interruptions at The Seattle Times Co.'s Bothell facility, production of today's paper was moved to the Fairview plant in Seattle. -------------------------------

COPING WITHOUT THE JUICE If your power is off: -- Shut off all appliances except the refrigerator, the freezer and one light, which will let you know when electricity returns. -- If you had the range or oven on, turn them off. -- Unplug the television. Shut off the computer. -- Keep curtains and shades closed to retain heat. -- Use hot water sparingly. Most hot-water tanks will retain heat for three days.

FOOD PRESERVATION: -- Put a thermometer in your freezer and refrigerator so you know what the temperature is inside when the power comes back on. If it's 40 degrees and below, the food should be fine. -- If the refrigerator temperature is 45 to 50 degrees, throw out any food with an "off" odor, then cook any meat, fish or poultry and freeze for later use. -- Avoid opening the freezer or refrigerator. Freezer contents should not begin to thaw for 48 hours, if it is kept closed. If the power is out for a long time and the food is completely thawed, but still cold - between 40 and 45 degrees - cook all uncooked food except fruits and jams and refreeze the cooked food. Throw away vegetables. Because of possible bacterial growth, casseroles containing meat, eggs, cheese and cream sauce should be thrown out even if they are still cold. If the food in the freezer is warm, it should be thrown out.