A deadly major storm hit California and the U.S. Pacific Northwest late Tuesday and into Wednesday with strong winds and heavy rains. At least two people were killed by falling trees in Seattle-area cities. As many as 500,000 power outages were reported across California, Oregon and Washington state. By Wednesday midafternoon, about 410,000 customers were still without power in Washington. In Bellevue, Washington, east of Seattle, the fire department warned residents that the powerful weather conditions were causing trees to fall around the city. “If you can, go to the lowest floor and stay away from windows. Do not go outside, if you can avoid it,” Bellevue’s fire department said in a post on social media platform X. Tracy Meloy of nearby Issaquah, Washington, told The Associated Press that she heard a “loud thump” as she hunkered down overnight. When she went outside Wednesday morning, she realized the thump had been made by a falling tree. It not only hit her house, she said, it also took down the power lines that had been in front of her house. Meloy said the street where she lives “looks like a forest floor instead of a street.” A bomb cyclone occurs when there is the rapid intensification of a cyclone in a short period of time. The Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that excessive rainfall and hurricane-force winds were possible through Friday. More than 25 centimeters of rain was forecast in Northern California, and up to 25 centimeters was expected in southwestern Oregon through Friday, the center said. California extended its flood watch into Saturday. In Northern California, the powerful weather conditions caused a gigantic tree to fall across U.S. Highway 101, temporarily closing the road. National Weather Service forecasters said Wednesday that “back-to-back powerful Pacific storm systems” were set “to impact the West Coast through the end of this week with heavy rain, life-threatening flooding, strong winds and higher-elevation mountain snow.” The service advised people traveling between Northern California and Washington to review their emergency plans and have multiple ways of receiving warnings about weather conditions.
