Bomb cyclone kills 1, knocks out power in Washington, Seattle as new threat arrives on West Coast

CNN
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A historically powerful bomb cyclone killed at least one person and caused widespread power outages that could last for days after it lashed the Pacific Northwest and Canada’s British Columbia with damaging winds.

Now, a new threat from the storm is emerging Wednesday as its winds ease: It is combining with an atmospheric river to trigger life-threatening flooding across parts of the West Coast that will continue through the rest of the week.

More than 500,000 homes and businesses were without power early Wednesday morning in Washington after hurricane-force winds knocked out the state’s power infrastructure Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us. Nearly 100,000 customers were without power in British Columbia, BC Hydro reported on its website.

Hurricane-force winds of up to 77 mph wreaked havoc in the western part of the state, bringing down several trees over power lines. The Seattle area was particularly hard hit. Puget Sound Energy, which serves the area, said more than 450,000 customers lost power in a “mass outage event” that could last “several days.”

“It’s serious out there. Trees are falling all over town and more are falling on homes,” the Bellevue Fire Department, east of Seattle, warned on social media Tuesday.

In Lynnwood, north of Seattle, a woman in her 50s was killed when a large tree fell on a homeless camp shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday, the South County Fire Department told CNN.

Southeast of Seattle, two people in Maple Valley were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital after a tree fell on their trailer. While one person was freed quickly, it took firefighters an hour to rescue the other, according to Puget Sound Fire.

A tree crashed into Washington resident Rob Corcoran’s home Tuesday night, and when it did, he told CNN it sounded like a jet plane landing on his roof.

“I didn’t even go outside because I was afraid I might get hit by flying debris,” Corcoran said. “I had no idea it was as bad as it is.”

An Amtrak train collided with a fallen tree north of Seattle in Stanwood Tuesday night, according to CNN affiliate KIRO. The incident rendered the train unusable, although none of the 47 passengers on board were injured, KIRO reported. CNN contacted Amtrak for more information.

The storm rapidly intensified Monday night into Tuesday in a phenomenon called “bombogenesis” and gave it the meteorological called “bomb cyclone”.

Bomb cyclones are formidable and load heavy snow and strong winds in winter.

This one was tied for the most intense on record for its location, a storm so strong that it occurs only “about once every 10 years,” the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, said Tuesday. It more than doubled the criteria needed to be designated as a bomb cyclone from Monday evening to Tuesday evening.

The powerful cyclone unleashed widespread winds of 60 to nearly 80 mph across western Washington, while even stronger winds of up to 101 mph roared just off the coast, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Wind gusts up to 60 mph hit western Oregon and northern California sustained gusts up to 80 mph.

Winds will remain gusty at times through at least early Wednesday before gradually beginning to decrease to gusty but less damaging levels. But the region’s weather threat is far from over.

Northern California and parts of the Pacific Northwest will become heavier during the day early Wednesday as an atmospheric river strengthens and ultimately peaks in intensity on Thursday.

An atmospheric river is a fire hose of moisture that, when tapped by a storm like the bomb cyclone, often inundates those in its path with torrential rains that sometimes last for days.

That’s what will happen this week, so a Level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rain is in place for parts of Northern California on Wednesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center. That risk level rises to a rare level 4 out of 4 high risk on Thursday.

“Flash flooding will be an increasing risk, with the potential for some life-threatening situations,” the weather service in Eureka, Calif., warned late Tuesday.

Parts of northwestern California could record 16 inches of rain or more in 48 hours. More than a month of rain is expected in the northern San Francisco Bay area, primarily north of the Golden Gate Bridge, the weather service there said. Rains of this magnitude are expected to cause significant urban flooding, debris flow on roads and river flooding.

Heavy rain will continue in parts of Northern California through Friday as the soggy weather gets a fresh jolt of atmospheric energy from a new storm to keep it going.

Another bomb cyclone may develop and rapidly strengthen just off the west coast on Friday. This new storm is likely to be weaker than the first, but will still increase the region’s rain threat and could also usher in another round of damaging winds.

CNN’s Isaac Yee, Sara Smart and Mike Madrigal contributed to this report.