Two people died after a tree collapsed onto their car outside Issaquah as strong winds picked up in the region on Sunday, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
The two people were traveling in a white sedan along Preston-Fall City Road Southeast, a densely forested roadway that connects cars from Interstate 90 to Fall City, when the tree came down across the car, said Sgt. Tim Meyer, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.
Eastside Fire & Rescue reported responding around 3:30 p.m. and pronounced the victims dead at the scene.
“It’s a freak accident,” said Meyer. “Just a moment or two’s difference could have drastically changed how this ended.”
The roadway was scheduled to be closed for several hours Sunday as crews investigated the incident.
Fallen trees are common along the road, which has many twists, said he said.
“We’re going to encourage folks to use an abundance of caution in areas that are more densely forested.”
No information was available on the victims as of early Sunday evening.
The Washington State Department of Transportation reported nearly a dozen cases of downed trees on interstates and roads in King and Snohomish counties Sunday. More than 100,000 homes across the Puget Sound region have lost power.
