A major storm hit the northwest United States Tuesday night with strong winds and rain, causing widespread power outages and downing trees that killed at least one person.
The Climate Prediction Center warned of risks of excessive rain through Friday and hurricane-force wind alerts were issued as the strongest atmospheric river — a large mass of moisture — California and the Pacific Northwest have seen this season overwhelms the region.
The storm system is considered a “bombogenesis” or “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly.
Fallen trees hit homes and blocked roads across northwest Washington. In Lynnwood, Washington, a woman was killed Tuesday night when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, South County firefighters said in a statement on X.
In Seattle, a tree fell on a vehicle and temporarily trapped a person inside, the Seattle Fire Department reported. The agency later said the person was in stable condition.
“Trees are falling all over the city and landing on homes,” the fire department in Bellevue, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Seattle, posted on social media site X. “If you can, go to the lowest floor and stay away from windows. Don’t go out if you can help it.”
As of early Wednesday, at least 600,000 homes without power were reported in Washington state on poweroutage.us. But the number of outage reports varied widely throughout the night, likely due in part to several weather and utility agencies having trouble reporting on the storm due to internet outages and other technical problems.
It was unclear whether that figure was accurate. More than 15,000 had lost power in Oregon and nearly 19,000 in California.
At 8 p.m., the highest wind speed was recorded in Canadian waters, where gusts of 163 kilometers per hour (101 miles per hour) were reported off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. .
The Oregon Coast saw wind gusts of up to 127 km/h Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, while Mount Rainier in Washington saw a wind speed of 124 km/h. .
Winds were expected to increase in western Washington overnight, the weather service said.
The National Weather Service warned people on the West Coast about the danger of fallen trees. “Stay safe by avoiding outside rooms and windows and be careful when driving,” he said in a message on X.
Flood and high wind warnings were issued in Northern California, with forecasts of up to 8 inches of rain in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, the North Coast and the Sacramento Valley. Dangerous flash flooding, rock slides and torrents carrying debris were expected, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
A winter storm warning was issued for the northern Sierra Nevada above 1,066 meters, where 28 centimeters of snow could fall in two days. Wind gusts could exceed 120 km/h in mountainous areas, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for parts of southwestern Oregon through Friday night, while winds and rough seas paralyzed a ferry route in northwest Washington between Port Townsend and Coupeville.
A blizzard warning has been issued for most of the Cascade region of Washington, including Mount Rainier National Park, beginning Tuesday afternoon, with estimates of up to a foot of snow and wind gusts of up to 97 km/h. h, according to the weather service in Seattle. Crossing mountain passes could be difficult, if not impossible.
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