Pacific Northwest, High winds
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Rain will ease Wednesday across the Pacific Northwest after floods and winds left at least 600,000 without power, forced hundreds of people in Washington to flee their homes and killed at least one person.
More than 580,000 residents and businesses across the U.S. Pacific Northwest were left in the dark on Wednesday morning as utilities struggled to recover from a night of violent weather. According to tracking data from PowerOutage.
This powerful storm is beginning to move out of the Pacific Northwest, where heavy rains have exacerbated last week’s historic flooding in Washington, into the Northern Plains and Northern Rockies Wednesday, bringing vicious wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph.
Mount Hood, Oregon saw a gust of wind at 138 miles per hour while Pigtail Peak, Washington saw a gust of 114 miles per hour. Pullman, Washington also saw a gust of 102 miles per hour.
A multifaceted coast-to-coast storm is beginning to move out of the Pacific Northwest and into the Northern Plains and the Rockies, packing powerful wind gusts of 50-70 mph. Gusts could even approach 80-90 mph.
Powerful wind gusts knocked out power to more than 500,000 customers across Washington and Oregon early Wednesday, as the latest atmospheric river intensified over the flood-devastated Pacific Northwest.
Over 333,100 homes and businesses were still without power on Thursday as severe storms battered the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
Beyond dam breaches near Seattle, the barrage of atmospheric rivers in recent days has increased the threat of flooding and landslides in the region. Residents should pay attention to the National Weather Service and local authorities throughout the week for guidance and information.
Approximately 63 million Americans are under a cold weather advisory, and around 11 million are under a freeze warning — mainly in the Gulf States where such low temperatures are rare.
A second atmospheric river in two weeks brought high winds and fallen trees to the Pacific Northwest, causing power outages and potential flooding through the end of the week.