The worst windstorm in more than decade tore through the Pacific Northeast on December 15,2006 leaving more than a million people without power 6 casualties and billions of dollars in property damage. This massive storm with howling wind speeds up to 90mph knocked out power for up to a week. Many of the suspended bridges had to be shut down because of the fear that the massive storm you knock them down.
When the storm finally reached Seattle-Tacoma INTL, it broke the old mark of 69mph in 1993. The devastating storm at a grueling 90mph grounded 100+ flights and stopped the running of Amtrak from Seattle to Portland.
Resident were to to stay indoors because of the hazardous traveling conditions. 700,000 Puget Sound Energy customers, 175,000 Seattle City Light customers, 120,000 Snohomish County PUD customers and 100,000 Tacoma Public Utility customers were without power at the peak of the outage.
Many people died that day because of the storm. A 41-year-old woman of Seattle died Thursday because she was trapped in her flooding basement. Also in Washington, two people died in traffic accident because of windblown trees. A 28-year-old man was killed while he was sleeping when the top of a tree snapped off and crashed into his home in a trailer park. On the Oregon coast, and elderly couple died in a house fire caused by candles they were using during the power outage.
As the storm continued to tear through the coast a family struck by the power outage was sickened by carbon monoxide from a generator set in a garage. Four children and two adults were hospitalized. The children remained in critical condition while the parents were in good condition.