The northwest United States and British Columbia were hit by hurricane-force wind gusts early Wednesday, leaving at least two dead and hundreds of thousands without power.
The powerful “bomb cyclone” rapidly intensified Tuesday, billed as “one of the most intense on record for this area and a once-in-a-decade storm,” the U.S. Weather Service said (NWS) at CNN
Gusts of up to 145 km/h swept through the northwest of the country in the evening from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to the US Weather Service (NWS).
These strong winds disrupted air traffic and caused falling trees, which closed some roads and sometimes proved fatal.
The city of Seattle was hit hard by the hurricane, where a woman in her 50s was killed when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, the fire department said. from South County to CNN.
In Bellevue, a city east of Seattle, a tree fell on a house, killing a woman, according to firefighters.
“The situation is very bad,” the Bellevue fire department, east of Seattle, commented on Facebook. Trees are falling throughout the city and several of them fell on houses. Don’t go out if you can avoid it.”
Gusty winds caused power outages in Washington state and British Columbia. More than 650,000 customers were without power Wednesday morning in Washington and 140,000 in British Columbia, according to BC Hydro.
Several trees fell on power lines in north Seattle. Two people were rescued after a tree fell on their trailer, according to Puget Sound Fire.
A train also collided with a tree Tuesday evening, according to CNN. None of the 47 passengers on board were injured.
Flood alerts
The storm is now moving towards Oregon and Northern California, where authorities fear heavy rains capable of causing flooding and strong winds capable of causing damage.
“Rainfall intensity is expected to peak on Thursday,” the meteorological services explained in their latest bulletin.
Flood warnings are in effect until the weekend in the region.
A strong blizzard and heavy snowfall are expected in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, the Cascade Range in Oregon and in Washington state, raising fears of avalanches.
According to meteorologists, the center of the cyclone must remain quite far off the west coast, above the Pacific Ocean, which limits its destructive potential. But the speed with which it formed and accumulated power surprised experts, who refer to it as a “weather bomb” or an “explosive cyclone.”
Scientists regularly warn that climate change is amplifying the destructive force of cyclones, hurricanes and other typhoons across the planet.
Warmer oceans release more water vapor, which provides additional energy to storms, whose winds intensify. Warming of the atmosphere also allows them to retain more water, which encourages heavy precipitation.
– With information from AFP
