Cars in trees, trees in cars; accidents pepper Puget Sound's snow day



EVERETT, Wash. -- The snowy weather took the Pacific Northwest by storm, as cities like Everett saw around seven inches of powder.

The conditions were ripe for car wrecks.

"It was a lot worse through here than I anticipated," Cassie Revell said while stranded in the middle of Interstate 5.

Revell was attempting to drive from Bellingham to Vancouver, Washington, to visit her sick mother. She made it to Everett before getting stuck in the snow in the middle of the interstate.

"Now my tires just kind of spin," she said.

Everett is as far as she'll get. While waiting in the middle of a lane with her hazards on for a trooper to come by and help her, she keeps a close eye on her rear-view mirror as the traffic drives by.

While she waits, an out-of-control Audi spins sideways up the hill, narrowly missing the back of her car.

Eventually, a state trooper arrives. He's one of many patrolling the roads.

Just a few miles north, troopers are responding to a two-car collision.

"We had one vehicle traveling too fast for conditions, lost control and then struck another vehicle on the left side," Washington State Patrol Trooper Rocky Oliphant said.

Everett Fire was on scene to tend to the driver of the car who got hit. She suffered injuries and required an ambulance to treat her.

For Oliphant, it's his ninth accident response just four hours into his shift.

"The best advice we can give people is to slow down, even better advice is to stay home if you can," he said.

He said Monday's night's conditions will get worse with dropping temperatures and icy roads. He anticipates a lot more accidents after dark.

Residential roads and homes dealt with headaches as well. In Shoreline, we saw a car in a yard fence. We also saw a tree limb land in a car.

"I was out here and I let my dogs out and I heard kind of a pop-crackle noise," homeowner Karl Trumble said. "The dogs retreated to the house and I stood here for a second and watched that limb fly through the air and go right through the carport."

He thought it might scratch or dent the car. Instead, it pierced right through the Nissan Leaf. The limb, dozens of feet tall, landed in the backseat of the car, smashing through the carport and the car's roof.

It's just kind of a real surreal experience," Trumble said. "It's just kind of like, this is nuts. I can't win the lotto but I get this."

At the end of the day, it's just a car. He's thankful no one was hurt but is keeping a close eye on the other tall trees near his home.