For about two hours on Jan. 14, as winds whipped mercilessly and tossed down trees across Spokane, there was not a single fire department crew left to respond to emergencies.
By midday, some 70,000 Avista customers in the region were without power, a woman had been killed by a falling tree and dozens of streets were rendered impassable.
It was with that context in mind that the Spokane City Council unanimously agreed Thursday to ratify an emergency declaration issued by Mayor Nadine Woodward in response to the powerful windstorm.
The cost of the storm cleanup has yet to be fully quantified, but the extent of the damage has begun
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