Blustery winds and freezing temperatures Sunday on the North Coast led to downed power lines, falling trees and crashes on ice-covered roadways.

Easterly winds with gusts up to 40 and 50 mph were reported in the Astoria area Sunday, and very strong winds came down the Columbia River, Ira Kosovitz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Portland said today.

Ice was a factor in at least two one-vehicle crashes Sunday, one on U.S. Highway 26 and the other on U.S. Highway 30, Oregon State Police reported. Neither driver was injured. Clatsop County Sheriff’s deputies, county and city public works employees, Pacific Power and local police and fire departments were also kept busy responding to weather-related incidents Sunday including false alarms set off by the wind.

A tree was on fire on Hillcrest Loop Road at 4:17 a.m. Sunday, a tree was blocking both lanes of Williamsport Road at 5:31 a.m. and another tree was down on Highway 30 at 7 a.m. At 8:30 a.m., a tree that fell across Tucker Creek Lane blocked both lanes and brought power lines down with it. As the morning progressed, downed trees were reported on Lewis and Clark Road at Wahanna Road in Seaside and Ridge Road in Warrenton.

On Sunday evening, there was a crash on U.S. Highway 30 in Elsie, and by 8:30 p.m., Highway 30 at the Bradley Summit was so icy that deputies notified ODOT.

Kosovitz said temperatures will gradually warm up here and by midweek, the wind will switch to the south. Meanwhile, the long dry spell is over. “We’re definitely in a wet pattern now,” Kosovitz said. The good news is the winds will start dying down toward the end of the week, and there could be a break in the wet pattern by Friday and Saturday, in time for holiday travel, he said.

Multiple accidents were reported from northeastern to southwestern Oregon, including at least three fatalities,.

As conditions improved in southern Oregon, the storm headed north, where slick roads led to crashes in the Salem and Portland areas. Transportation officials were urging people not to drive in the wind, freezing rain and snow.

The storm left 9,500 Portland General Electric customers without power for at least part of the day. The utility said wind caused all the outages, which were widely scattered across the Portland, Mount Hood and Western Columbia Gorge areas. Chains were required on I-84 along the Columbia River Gorge late Sunday

Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Port of Portland, said there were more that 25 flight cancellations at Portland International Airport Sunday, but most planes were “relatively” on time.

About 20 flight cancellations had been posted for this morning, and Johnson said there should be some delays.

Downtown Portland got its first covering of snow this winter, sending pedestrians to the seat of their pants and drivers skidding in different directions.

TriMet spokesman Bruce Solberg said MAX trains would run all night long to keep ice from forming on the lines.