A gusty, rain-soaked storm swept through the Pacific Northwest and Northern California this week, killing at least two people and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of customers.
The dangerous weather, fueled by the season’s first major atmospheric river from the Pacific Ocean, battered the region starting on Tuesday. Forceful winds wiped out power for half a million customers in Washington. The Seattle area, where the two deaths occurred, endured some of the worst impacts.
The storm then moved into Northern California, where it disrupted hundreds of flights, flooded creeks and drenched San Francisco. It also dumped heavy snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges.
Though the storm is weakening as it inches south, residents are still reeling from the damage. More than 90,000 customers in Washington were still without power on Saturday morning, along with about 17,000 in California. In the region north of San Francisco, which includes Napa Valley, flooding is expected to continue through Saturday.