Washington residents woke up to the devastation caused by a deadly bomb cyclone after the storm ravaged the state on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The record-breaking storm swirled along the West Coast at hurricane-force winds this week, generating winds of up to 75 miles per hour that downed trees and power lines and killed at least two people.
Two women were killed in tree crashes Tuesday evening — one at a homeless encampment in Lynnwood and the other in Bellevue’s Bridal Trails neighborhood.
Numerous houses and cars have been crushed by falling trees, in some cases trapping people inside until emergency services could free them.
Crews worked tirelessly to clear the roads of debris.
On Wednesday, crews in western Washington worked to restore electricity to the more than 600,000 customers who lost power overnight.
More than 300,000 are still experiencing outages as of 9 a.m. ET Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
“We haven’t had a storm like this since January 2012,” said Mary Kipp, president of Puget Sound Energy, which serves more than 1.2 million electric customers in the state.
She said Thursday that it would take at least a few days for a full recovery.
Trees fell on several homes, a propane tank and a pickup truck in Sudden Valley, according to social media posts
Sudden Valley residents took to social media to share photos of the damage in their community. Trees fell on several homes, a propane tank and a pickup truck.
A photo posted to the Whatcom County Weather Facebook page showed the roof of a Sudden Valley home significantly collapsed and covered in downed branches.
And a crushed red pickup truck was seen underneath a pile of trees and branches, looking like a pile of scrap metal as the entire bed and much of the cab sustained significant damage.
Tracy Meloy of Issaquah, Washington stepped out of her house Wednesday morning to find her neighborhood in ruins. Associated press reported.
“Now that I’m standing here in front of the house, I see it’s the tree across the street,” she said.
The tree took power lines with it when it fell, and branches and leaves were scattered across the road.
“It looks like a forest floor instead of a street,” she said.
In Seattle, a resident was trapped in his vehicle when a tree fell on the car. The Seattle Fire Department later reported the person was in stable condition.
Falling trees damaged homes, crushed cars and killed two people in the Seattle area
A pickup truck was completely crushed by a falling tree in Sudden Valley, as this image on Facebook shows
Lake Stevens resident Tiffani Palpong stood outside her home Wednesday where her 20-year-old son, Logan, was trapped inside by downed power lines and trees.
And in Maple Valley, firefighters responded Tuesday to a call about two people trapped in a trailer, using chains and headlights to try to move the fallen tree in the middle of the night.
In Puget Sound, fallen trees are impacting road traffic, and commuters have been advised to give themselves extra time to reach their destinations.
State Route 18 is closed in Issaquah between Interstate 90 and the Issaquah-Hobart road. Officials have not indicated when they expect the road to reopen.
More than a dozen schools closed in Seattle on Wednesday, with the Issaquah, Renton and Bellevue school districts choosing to remain closed Thursday as storm and power outage cleanup efforts continue.
On Wednesday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that ocean crossings between Washington’s Quillayute River and California’s Humboldt Bay would be closed.
Seattle residents reported widespread cell service outages for Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
Weather radio in the Seattle area will remain off the air until further notice, as will the Puget Sound Marine transmitter, as technicians are unable to reach the site for repairs due to downed trees and power lines.
While the bomb cyclone has moved north and its center is now off the coast of Vancouver Island, Washington is not out of the woods yet.
Several National Weather Service (NWS) advisories and watches remain in effect for the Evergreen State.
Tiffani Palpong stands in front of her home where her 20-year-old son Logan was still trapped by downed power lines and trees in Lake Stevens, Washington on November 20, 2024
Firefighters and paramedics respond after a tree fell on a trailer Tuesday in Maple Valley, Washington, trapping two people inside
These include a winter weather advisory in the Northeast Mountains until 1 p.m. Thursday, a High Wind Watch along the South Washington coast until 1 a.m. Saturday, and a Flood Watch in Mason County until 7 a.m. Saturday.
These notices were issued ahead of a Category 5 atmospheric river stirred up by the bomb cyclone and headed towards the west coast.
This band of atmospheric moisture made landfall on Tuesday and is expected to cause peak impacts on Thursday, drenching the Pacific Northwest and Northern California with up to 20 inches of rain and dumping feet of snow at high elevations.
This storm system is already lashing the region. Meteorologists predict its impact will last until the end of the week, especially as a second offshore storm strengthens its strength.
Although Washington endured the most intense storm impacts from the bomb cyclone, California and Oregon were also in the line of fire.
Due to the path of the atmospheric river, these two states will experience the most severe storm conditions in the future – especially Northern California and Southwestern Oregon.
A tree fell on a Taco Bell in Issaquah, Washington on Wednesday
Fallen trees are impacting road transport and commuters have been advised to give themselves extra time to reach their destinations
The heaviest precipitation is currently hitting Northern California.
Up to 16 inches of rain is expected in northern California and southwestern Oregon through Friday.
Parts of this region experienced heavy rainfall on Wednesday evening. Santa Rosa saw about two inches in 24 hours, Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the NWS.
This is likely to result in flooding in areas with poor drainage and areas affected by burn scars charred, barren swathes of land left behind by forest fires.
That’s because burned soil can be just as water-resistant as pavement, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
There will also be a high risk of mudslides and rockslides in areas affected by forest fires, as the loss of vegetation makes soil volatile and easily eroded.
The bomb cyclone is moving off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, but has ushered in an atmospheric river that will continue to batter western states with storm conditions
Floods and landslides caused by the atmospheric river have also affected parts of British Columbia, Canada
About a dozen small landslides have already occurred in Northern California in the past 24 hours, including one on Highway 281 on Wednesday morning that caused a car crash, Chenard said.
“NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center in northwest California, including Eureka, has issued rare, high-risk flood forecasts through Thursday evening because of how severe the flood threat could be in that area,” The Weather Channel reported.
“Elsewhere, lighter amounts of additional rain can be expected in the future in western Oregon and western Washington, with the heaviest amounts in coastal and foothill areas.”
Heavy mountain snow will also continue through early Thursday in Northern California and the Oregon Cascades. More than a foot has already accumulated in parts of the Cascade Mountains and California.
Whiteout conditions brought traffic to a standstill Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 5 north of the town of Weed, California.
‘I-5 S/B in Edgewood (Yreka) is currently closed due to severe weather conditions. Chain requirements are active at several locations in Northern California,” the California Highway Patrol Northern Division reported Wednesday.
This is the strongest atmospheric river the Pacific Northwest has seen this season.
The bomb cyclone also reached record strength on Tuesday, with a central pressure equivalent to that of a major hurricane.
Climate change is fueling storm systems like this bomb cyclone and atmospheric river, making them bigger, stronger and more dangerous, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.