Snow, ice thrash western OregonPORTLAND (AP) — Snow and cold over much of northern and western Oregon turned a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 5 in the Willamette Valley into a skating rink Thursday with vehicles crashing or sliding off the highway, the Oregon Department of Transportation said.
Friday, January 12, 2007 10:57 AM PST
The overnight snow fell to a depth of 3 to 4 inches and iced over most seriously between Cottage Grove and Albany, the department said. Many schools in the region closed, as in Portland and Vancouver, Wash., delayed opening or curtailed bus routes. The National Weather Service said clear, cold weather in much of Oregon was expected to follow the snow. Temperatures Thursday night were in the single digits in much of central and Eastern Oregon, the teens in southwestern Oregon and the central Willamette Valley, the teens and 20s along the coast, and about 20 in the Portland area.
ODOT said the cold would make the roads even slicker.
No serious accidents had been reported Thursday morning, said Sgt. Julie Wilcox of the Oregon State Police. She said semitrailer trucks had twice spun out in the mountainous stretches of Interstate 5 in southwestern Oregon, temporarily blocking traffic.
Local police officers kept busy with cars spinning out or ending up in ditches.
Capt. Aaron Ashbaugh of the Forest Grove Police Department said the accidents hadn’t caused serious injury.
‘‘The problem seems to be that people are on the heavily traveled roads and see they are generally not that bad,’’ he said, ‘‘but then run into an occasional patch of ice that causes them to lose it.’’
