Seattle wind storms: A historic look at fatal weather events

Heavy rain and winds with hit Western Washington throughout Thursday, leading to strong winds overnight. Widespread power outages are expected. (Follow this link for real-time updates.)

Gale-force winds hit Western Washington about every 15 years with significant storms doing damage in 1993, 1962, 1958, 1934, and 1921, according to Historlink.org.

Below is a recap of recent major storms. Download the KIRO 7 News app for push alert updates and livestreamed team coverage throughout the current storm.

Columbus Day Storm, Oct. 12, 1962

On Oct. 12, 1962, the Columbus Day Storm killed dozens of people on the west coast, set rain records in two major California cities, closed the Seattle World's Fair early on the day of the storm, and caused at least $230 million in damage.

It was the Washington's worst weather disaster of the 20th century. That damage estimate is roughly $1.82 billion today.

"Hurricane force winds, reaching up to 121 miles an hour in some areas, steamrolled northward with devastating ferocity," the front page of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer read the following day. Below is video from Oregon.

Patrons were evacuated from the Space Needle restaurant – Seattle’s most talked about restaurant at the time, which had been open for less than six months. Weather at Discovery Park in Magnolia hit 83 mph.

The peak wind gust was 127 mph, and it was the only time in Pacific Northwest history that a weather station had to be abandoned due to severe weather, Meteorologist and University of Washington professor Cliff Mass wrote on his blog in 2012.

The lack of meteorological data in the Pacific Ocean was a big reason the Northwest was blindsided in 1962, Mass also wrote.

As we’ve seen this week, a large storm is recognized much earlier.

Inauguration Day Storm, Jan. 20, 1993

On January 20, 1993, an Inaugural Day storm with winds topping 94 mph ravages Puget Sound. Six people die and hundreds of thousands lose electric power for days. Only the Columbus Day storm of 1962 exceeds the violence of this event.

The storm was predicted the day before by the U.S. Weather service and was the result of a strong low-pressure rainstorm from the southwest moving north of Seattle. Winds and falling trees knocked out major transmission lines and other wires until more than 600,000 customers lost power.

Five days after the storm, tens of thousands of customers in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties were still without electricity. Seattle City Light took the unprecedented step of asking for help from other utilities. Thirteen crews from BC Hydro, Eugene Water & Electric Board, Chelan County Public Utilities District, and Grant County Public Utilities District traveled to Seattle to work with 40 City Light crews. The hardest hit utility was Puget Sound Power & Light, which had 500,000 customers in the dark, most of them in hard-to-serve rural areas. Three days later, the utility still had 59,000 residences and business without electricity.

Governor Mike Lowry (b. 1939) declared a state of emergency and called out the National Guard to assist with relief efforts.

Inauguration Day Storm information from David Wilma of Historylink.org. Essay sources are included at the end of this article.

Hanukah Eve Storm, Dec. 14-15, 2006

On December 14-15, heavy rain and gale-force winds slammed Western Washington. Initial reports had four people dead, including Kate Fleming, a Seattle who died after waters trapped her in the basement of her Madison Valley home.

Felming, who was a voice actress, was in the basement working on a recording. Neighbors heard her screams and ran to help, but were unable to save her. Firefighters had to cut a hole in the first floor and send divers down, but Fleming had died by the time she was found. A hillside gave way above Fleming's home in the 500 block of 30^th Avenue East.

A 28-year-old man also was killed in McCleary, part of Grays Harbor County, as he slept in a trailer. Falling trees also killed a man in his car near Roy, in Pierce County. Also in Pierce County, a woman in a pick truck died near the town of McKenna.

The Hanukah Eve Storm killed at least 14, though some accounts list 18 killed overall. In either case, most the deaths came from later carbon monoxide positioning.

During the storm, then-Governor Christine Gregoire declared a state of emergency in 17 counties. Customers in Western Washington, including some in Duvall and rural King County, went without power for 11 days. Damages were in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Below is an audio look back at historic fatal windstorms by KIRO Radio's Feliks Banel.

Sources for Inauguration Day storm essay from Historlink.org: Bob Lane, "Next: Restoring Power To All, Tallying Damage," The Seattle Times, January 24, 1993, p. B-1; "Many Quick, Good Responses To Storm," Ibid., January 23, 1993, p. A-11; "Got A Light? Thousands Still Without, Damage Worse Than Expected," Ibid., p. A-1; Alex Tizon, "State Takes Stock Of Damage," Ibid., A-6; "Red Cross Offers Meals At 15 Shelters," Ibid., p. A-7; Wayne Wurzer, et al., "Wind-Battered Citizens Take Stock," Ibid., January 22, 1993, p. C-3; Dave Birkland, et al., "Some In Dark Until Sunday, Winds Lead to 6 Deaths, Emergency Declared," Ibid., January 21, 1993, p. A-1; "The Inaugural Nobody Saw," Network: Seattle City Light Employee Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 4 (February 18, 1993), pp. 1-5.

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