Two people were killed Saturday in northwestern Washington when a storm carrying heavy winds passed through the area, toppling trees and knocking out power for thousands.
Jamie Fay was driving in Gig Harbor, about 70 miles south of Seattle, when strong winds brought a tree down on his vehicle, which killed him instantly, Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelley Busey told NBC News. The man's 3-year-old daughter was also in the car but wasn't injured, according to NBC affiliate KING5.
In Federal Way, Washington, just across Commencement Bay, a 10-year-old girl was also killed when a branch was wind-whipped off of a tree and hit her, said Stan McCall, an administrative commander at the Federal Way Police Department. The young girl was playing outside of an apartment complex at about noon when she was struck, McCall told NBC News.
Four more people were injured by falling tree limbs at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, about 25 miles south of Federal Way, which was hosting a triathlon Saturday morning, according to a post on the Facebook page belonging to the military base.
The National Weather Service in Seattle recorded winds during the storm gusting up to 70 mph in some areas. People posting about the storm on social media shared footage of trees bending and waves in Lake Washington that looked like they belonged in the ocean.
After the windstorm hit, more than 224,000 Puget Sound Energy customers were left without power, according to the utility company. Puget crews maneuvered around the debris and downed trees overnight to decrease the amount of outages to less than a quarter of what was originally reported, the company said.
Seattle City Light said another 58,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm.
Many roads and campgrounds in Olympic National Park, which was battered by 30 to 70 mph winds, remained closed Sunday as crews worked to clean up the mess left behind by the storm.
