CNN

By Karina Tsui, Robert Shackelford and Mary Gilbert, CNN

(CNN) – A “once-in-a-decade” bomb cyclone slammed into the northwestern United States and parts of Canada early Wednesday with hurricane-force wind gusts — leaving at least one person dead and hundreds of thousands without power in Washington state , California and British Columbia.

In Seattle and surrounding cities, high winds are knocking down trees, some falling on homes and putting lives at risk.

In Lynnwood, north of Seattle, a 50-year-old woman was killed when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment shortly after 7 p.m. PT, the Seattle Fire Department said. South County for CNN.

More than 650,000 customers lost power in the early hours of Wednesday in Washington, while about 140,000 customers remained without power in British Columbia, BC Hydro reported on its website. As of midnight PT, more than 24,000 California customers were without power.

The National Weather Service reported significant wind gusts across the region, including off the coast of British Columbia, where winds gusted to 101 mph at the South Brooks Buoy.

Gusts of 72 to 77 mph were reported across Washington state, including at Cape Elizabeth on the Olympic Peninsula and at Crystal Mountain and Sunrise-Mount Rainier inland southeast of Seattle.

“It’s serious there. Trees are down across the city, with several falling on homes,” the Bellevue Fire Department, east of Seattle, posted in a Severe Weather Safety alert on Facebook. “If you can, go to the lowest floor you can and stay away from windows. Don’t go out if you can avoid it.”

Videos obtained by CNN show several trees down on power lines in Lake Stevens, Snohomish County, north of Seattle, with Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue saying there are “many trees and power lines down.”

In Maple Valley, a town southeast of Seattle, two people were rescued after a tree fell on their trailer, according to Puget Sound Fire. One patient was quickly freed, while it took firefighters an hour to free the second. Both patients were transferred to a nearby hospital.

An Amtrak train collided with a fallen tree near an intersection in Stanwood, north of Seattle, Tuesday night, according to CNN affiliate KIRO. The incident left the train inoperable, although none of the 47 passengers on board were injured, KIRO reported. CNN has reached out to Amtrak for more information.

Several school districts in Western Washington will be closed or delayed Wednesday due to the impact of the storm.

“Due to power outages, downed trees and high winds in some areas, all school buildings will be closed on Wednesday, November 20 and all after school activities have been cancelled,” Eatonville School District, 60 miles south of Seattle. , shared on social networks.

In western Oregon, winds of 30 to 50 mph were reported, with gusts along the coast and offshore reaching over 70 mph late Tuesday. In Northern California, offshore gusts reached 60 mph, with Humboldt highs reaching 80 mph.

“Bombogenesis”

the mighty”cyclone bomb” will combine with an atmospheric river to unleash over a month of rain, hurricane-force wind gusts and feet of mountain snow across parts of the Pacific Northwest and northern California.

The storm system intensified rapidly on Tuesday in a phenomenon called “bombogenesis” and earned it the nickname “bomb cyclone”. It was one of the most intense on record for its location, a storm that occurs only “about once every ten years,” said the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon.

Bomb cyclones are formidable and they discharge heavy snow and strong winds during the winter.

This bomb cyclone will work an atmospheric rivera long wave of water vapor that moves like a river through the atmosphere to remove heavy rain and significant mountain snow in the Pacific Northwest and northern California. The pair will stay along the coast and hammer the area with dangerous conditions throughout the week and into the weekend.

Parts of northwestern California could see 16 inches of rain or more in 48 hours. In the northern San Francisco Bay area, mainly north of the Golden Gate Bridge, more than a month of rain is expected, the weather service there said. Rains of this magnitude are expected to cause significant urban flooding, debris flow on roads and river flooding.

The heaviest precipitation is expected to begin Wednesday and peak Thursday in northwestern California. A 3 out of 4 flood risk is in effect there for Wednesday and a rare 4 out of 4 high risk is in effect for Thursday, according to the WPC.

It is hard to overstate how big these big risks are. They are issued on average less than 4% of days per year, but they are responsible for more than 80% of all flood damage and 40% of all flood deathsWPC research shows.

Wednesday could see 3 to 6 inches of rain, with some spots reaching 8 inches. Thursday’s rainfall could reach or exceed Wednesday’s totals, especially in the high risk area.

Heavy snowfall is expected in higher elevations where winter weather alerts are in place. Blizzard warnings are in effect for parts of the Washington Cascades with more than a foot of snow and flurries gusts up to 60 mph are possible through Wednesday morning.

“The journey can be very difficult to impossible. Strong winds could cause extensive damage to trees and power lines,” the National Weather Service office in Seattle warned.

1 to 4 feet of snow is possible through Wednesday in the Cascades and northern Sierra Nevada. The snow could create impossible travel conditions on Interstate 5 and the 31, 36, 66, 89, 97 and 140 freeways.

Strong winds peaked for much of the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday as the bomb cyclone began to weaken, but conditions will remain gusty in the region on Wednesday.

Conditions will begin to improve over the weekend, but lighter rain could continue into next week.

CNN’s Isaac Yee and Hanna Park contributed to this report.

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