Three people have died after a power line fell onto a car in northeast Portland on Wednesday morning following a severe storm in Oregon.
Firefighters were called to reports of a “person on fire” just before 11.45am near the intersection of Northeast 122nd Avenue and Siskiyou Street, officials said, where they found three people and a small child lying in the street.
The four people were found around 35 feet from an SUV that had a power line draped over it that had been pinned down by a large tree branch, fire officials added.
Officials said two adults and one teenager were found dead at the scene, while a two-year-old was taken to the hospital without injuries.
Fire department officials added that callers reported that someone grabbed the small child off of one of the adults on the ground before a nearby resident came outside with the child when fire crews arrived.
Spokesperson Rick Graves said a branch had fallen on a power line, causing it to fall onto an SUV.
Officials suspect that the people were frightened and attempted to leave the car, but were electrocuted after they got out of the vehicle.
The accident comes as a large swath of the region has been under weather warnings after as much as nine inches of snow fell in the area.
A deadly Arctic blast that has brought flooding, snow and freezing rain to many parts of the US has killed 27 people so far, at least 11 of which were reported in Oregon.
Several of those deaths are attributable to hypothermia, others were caused by fires and falling trees.
Following the three deaths on Wednesday, Mr Graves warned that people should never go near downed wires.
If a power line comes down on a vehicle, he said occupants should stay inside and call 911 unless there is “imminent danger”.
The car’s rubber tyres will block the current, he added.
“In all likelihood, had they stayed in the vehicle, we might not have been having this conversation,” Mr Graves continued.
Storm Indigo will continue to travel east this week, The Weather Channel reported, bringing up to five inches of snow to New York and Washington DC later this week.
A downed tree rests on top of a home in Lake Oswego, Oregon
The National Weather Service has also warned that another frigid Arctic airmass will bring temperatures 20-30F below normal to the east of the country.
In the meantime, the east coast will see a return to more typical winter temperatures following a brutal cold front earlier in the week.
The severe winter storms have unleashed chaos across the country, causing school closures and more than 10,500 flight delays and another 1,175 cancellations on Thursday.
Scene of the accident in Portland
