Fatal wreck closes 101 at Morse Creek during snow storm

One person was killed in a 1:01 p.m. two-car collision wreck at Morse Creek on U.S. Highway 101, the State Patrol said.

Both lanes of the highway were reopened by 3:50 p.m., the state Department of Transportation said. Alternating traffic in the eastbound lane had allowed vehicles through earlier, although traffic was backed up for miles.

No other information about the wreck is available now.

The Port Angeles School District said at about 4 p.m. that buses carrying students on routes 1 and 2, which go to the Morse Creek area, were leaving Roosevelt School to take students to their bus stops. The buses had waited to leave until the Highway 101 was cleared at Morse Creek.

As snow barreled into the North Olympic Peninsula, several traffic snarls were reported in Port Angeles.

Westbound traffic on the Eighth Street bridges was slow going earlier today as police redirected traffic away from the hill west of A Street, which was closed in the west lane. It was opened at about 1:20 p.m.

A four-car collision occurred at Eighth and A streets earlier today. Police say no one was injured.

Ediz Hook, which was closed past the Nippon paper mill at about 1 p.m. after a power line fell, was reopened by 4 p.m..

Port Angeles School District released students early with elementary released at 1:30 p.m., high school at 2:05 p.m. and middle school at 2:30 p.m.

Quillayute Valley School District cancelled classes for all levels today.

Clallam Transit has changed routes within Port Angeles to a once-an-hour schedule rather than a half-hour schedule. All buses on Routes 20, 22, 24 and 26 will leave The Gateway transit center at five minutes after the hour until further notice.

Port Angeles City Hall will close at 3:30 p.m. today. City Hall will reopen on a delayed schedule at 10 a.m. Thursday.

The North Olympic Library System is closing branches early today. Port Angeles and Clallam Bay libraries will close at 3 p.m. The Sequim Library will close at 2:30 p.m. The Forks Library will close at 5 p.m.

The Port Angeles Shoreline and Harbor Visioning Open House scheduled for this evening at 6:00 p.m. has been canceled. It will be rescheduled.

The National Weather Service issued preliminary snowfall amounts at 11:34 a.m.

Trained spotters reported 4 inches of accumulation in Forks and 2 inches near both Sequim and Sekiu.

There appeared to be about 2 inches of accumulation in downtown Port Angeles at 1:30 p.m.

Hurricane Ridge Road is closed for the day because of the storm.

Olympic National Park reported 6-to-12 inches of new snow at Hurricane Ridge, where it was 18 degrees at 1 p.m.

Port Townsend had a dusting of snow this morning.

The National Weather Service is forecasting 4-to-8 inches of snow this afternoon on the Peninsula with another 3-to-7 inches tonight and more snow Thursday.

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