Section Of I-5 Collapses -- Road Closed In Oregon; Weather Deaths Rise

Apparently weakened by this week's downpours, a section of Interstate 5 near Roseburg, Ore., collapsed this morning, leaving a 30-foot-deep sinkhole that swallowed a tractor-trailer. The driver was not injured.

Both directions of I-5 were closed after part of the northbound lanes collapsed into the South Umpqua River near Roseburg, about 70 miles south of Eugene. One truck drove into the 100-foot-wide hole, a second hung on the edge and a third ended up across the median strip and hit a motorist who had stopped near the sinkhole.

In King County, an Issaquah woman was killed this morning when she jumped over a guardrail to avoid an out-of-control car that was coming at her on Highway 18 over the Issaquah-Hobart Road. She apparently did not realize it was a drop of over 50 feet.

Near Spokane, a man and woman died in the Spokane Valley early this morning in a trailer-home fire, said Carl Bold of the Spokane Valley Fire District.

"We think they died of carbon-monoxide poisoning before the fire started," Bold said, repeating a warning that people should not improvise heating systems using charcoal.

Two of the drivers involved in the I-5 sinkhole are from the Puget Sound area: James Pattison, 38, of Auburn, a driver for USF Reddaway dispatched from Kent, and Son Huynh, 27, of Tacoma, a driver for Swift Transport, according to the Oregon State Patrol.

A United Grocer truck driven by Albert Wilkeson, 56, of Boring, Ore., was unable to stop and went partly into the hole.

Huynh's truck approached the same area after a pickup driven by Trampis Gress, 25, of Roseburg, lost control while trying to avoid the hole. Huynh's truck veered to miss the hole and struck Gress, who had gotten out of his pickup and was trying to cross the southbound lanes. Huynh's truck kept going through the center barrier and came to rest, blocking the southbound lanes. Gress was taken to Columbia Douglas Hospital, where doctors had to amputate one of his feet.

The Reddaway truck, pulling three trailers and driven by Pattison, was unable to stop and plunged into the hole, landing upside down.Pattison was on his way back to Auburn this morning.

A relative, Kris Pattison, said Pattison grew up in the Auburn area and was married about a week ago.

Eight people have died in Washington in connection with the record storm that hit the Pacific Northwest this week. Tens of thousands of people remained without power.

Five deaths have been attributed to the storm in Oregon. Four people died when a mudslide swept through a home Monday in the southwestern part of the state, and crews removing debris yesterday found the body of Delsa Lynn Hammer, 48, of Coos Bay. Her car apparently had been pushed into the Umpqua River by a mudslide, said Douglas County sheriff's Capt. Robert Stratton.

On the weather front, there's a chance of precipitation tonight in the Seattle area, and while that might be snow showers, it could also be rain showers, according to the National Weather Service. Snow showers could bring minor accumulations above 500 feet. The lows tonight are expected to be 30 to 35 degrees, with a high tomorrow in the lower 40s.

Puget Sound Power & Light still had 4,244 homes in the dark today in King, Pierce and Thurston counties and on the Olympic Peninsula. Most of those were in North and Central King County. Tacoma City Light had only 100 customers without power this morning.

Meanwhile, slick roads were blamed for several traffic accidents throughout the region.

A four-car collision near the Tacoma Narrows Bridge yesterday claimed one life and injured two people, including a pregnant woman.

The fatal crash occurred about 10 a.m. on Highway 16 west of the Narrows Bridge. Mary Pena's car crossed the center line, veering into opposing traffic and striking two cars, the State Patrol reported. Pena, 42, a Gig Harbor resident, was killed and two others were injured.

In other storm related deaths: Claude Wait, 66, of Bremerton, died of a heart attack when his car slid out of control on Highway 3 in Silverdale, Kitsap County. Timothy O'Brien, 29, of Lacey, was killed when his car slid and was hit by two other vehicles on Highway 167 in Sumner. Gregory Carlson, 29, of Colbert, Spokane County, was killed in a Yakima County campground when a tree branch fell. Charles Weltsey, 85, died when a snow-laden carport roof collapsed on him in Yakima.

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Dee Norton, Emelyn Cruz Lat, Arthur Santana and Dave Birkland is included in this report.