‘Bomb cyclone’ slams western US, leaving one dead and 600,000 without power
Al Jazeera
Authorities warn that severe winds and heavy rains are expected across the northwestern United States through Friday.
A powerful storm known as a “bomb cyclone” has killed at least one person and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands across the West Coast of the United States.
The bomb cyclone, named for the rapid intensification of a storm over a brief period of time, brought excessive rainfall and winds of 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour) on Wednesday to Oregon, Washington, and California. Heavy rain and harsh winds are expected to continue through Friday.
“Back-to-back powerful Pacific storm systems 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 National Weather Service (NWS) predicted in a social media post.
A woman was killed in Washington when a tree fell on an encampment of homeless people, and two people were also injured when a tree fell on their trailer. The storm has swept down trees and power lines and knocked out power for about 600,000 people, according to the website poweroutage.us.
The NWS said that excessive rainfall is expected through Friday, with blizzard conditions and heavy snow in the Cascades and Northern California. The agency said that severe rain could also lead to “life-threatening floods” in Northern California.
