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A monster Pacific Northwest storm coated Washington with freezing rain on Thursday and brought much of the state to a standstill as the Seattle airport temporarily shut down, tens of thousands of people lost power and hundreds of cars slid off roads a day after the region was hit with a major snowfall.

The storm claimed at least one life — a child whose body was pulled from an Oregon creek in which a car was swept away from a grocery store parking lot. Rescuers also searched Thursday for an adult missing in the creek in the Willamette Valley community of Albany, about 70 miles south of Portland, said fire department spokeswoman Wanda Omdahl.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency, authorizing the use of National Guard troops if necessary.

On the icy interstate north of Seattle, a transportation department worker responding to an accident was injured in crash. He was taken to a Seattle hospital; no details were available on his condition or how he was injured.

Freezing rain and ice pellets caused numerous accidents in the Seattle area, where drivers are mostly inexperienced with driving in snow or ice. The last widespread freezing rain in Seattle was in December 1996, said meteorologist Jeff Michalski at the National Weather Service office in Seattle.

The weather service used the Emergency Alert System to break into Thursday-morning broadcasts with an ice-storm warning until noon for the Seattle area and southwest Washington. Among the concerns were widespread power outages and the threat that structures could collapse under the weight of ice. The Washington State Patrol said some if its troopers brought chain saws to work Thursday so they could quickly remove downed trees on highways and roads.

Authorities also are worried about flooding in the coming days as temperatures warm up
Ice closed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport completely in the early morning before one runway was reopened, but taxiways remained a problem even as runways were deiced. Many morning flights were delayed or canceled. Forecasters expect up to 0.4 inch of ice before temperatures rise above freezing by afternoon.

The state Transportation Department closed one highway because of falling trees that also took out power lines.

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A Pacific storm packing hurricane-force winds battered the central Oregon Coast on Wednesday, arriving with a howl of wind and lashing rains around 4 a.m.

In Newport and Lincoln City, the wind whipped the sand into streamers, creating massive surf and spindrift.

Normally bustling U.S. 101 was mostly empty as the storm intensified through the morning.

Wind gusts as high as 110 mph in some areas uprooted trees, brought down power lines and forced the closure of several main highways connecting the coast and the Willamette Valley. They also toppled a tractor-trailer rig that was trying to cross the Yaquina Bay Bridge, blocking U.S. 101 for several hours.

Along Oregon 18, trees were flung across the highway about 10 miles east of Lincoln City, causing numerous delays for commuters and commercial truckers alike.

Every major roadway either has a delay or is closed due to water on the roadway, downed trees or power lines," said Jenny Demaris, Lincoln County emergency manager. "It's a mess," said Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, who noted he was supposed to be in Salem to testify on a bill to make it easier to remove dangerous trees, but was unable to get there.

The county will next turn its focus to the potential for flooding in coming days, she said.

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The squirrels are plopping heavily ... SO fat they'll be needing Spanx by the end of Feb. to keep from being mistaken for cats

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Spring here is the five minutes between turning off the heat and turning on the A/C

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