Two Dead, Massive Outages After Windstorm Slams Washington State

(Reuters) - A powerful windstorm toppled trees, killing two people in Washington state as work crews scrambled on Sunday to restore power to 450,000 customers, a TV report showed.

A father driving with his three-year-old daughter in Gig Harbor, just west of Tacoma, was killed on Saturday when a tree fell on his car, KOMO 4 TV reported.

Within two hours, a falling branch struck and killed a 10-year-old girl in Federal Way, just east of Tacoma, the television station reported.

Gusting winds were blamed for massive power outages affecting as many as 450,000 customers.

On utility websites, Puget Sound Energy said crews working through the night had been able to restore nearly 75 percent of affected customers by early Sunday morning, with 97,000 remaining without power, Snohomish PUD reported 88,000 remained without power, Seattle City Light had about 21,000 still affected and Tacoma Public Utilities had 500 customers still in the dark.