USA Severe storm on the US west coast - hundreds of thousands without power

Heavy rain, hurricane-force winds, heavy snowfall: extreme weather on the US West Coast has claimed lives and paralyzed parts of the region with power outages. Authorities in the US state of Washington have so far reported two deaths due to the storm. One woman was killed by a fallen tree at a homeless camp. Another woman was killed in her home when a tree fell on the building.

In the mountainous regions, the storm brought heavy snow with it. According to media reports, Interstate 5 - a major highway on the US west coast from the northern US border to Mexico - was temporarily closed due to the snowfall. The US weather service warned of further snowfall in the North Cascades National Park in Washington and in the northern Rocky Mountains in the coming days.

More than 350,000 people in Washington and California were without power on Thursday night (local time), according to the website Poweroutage.us. Strong gusts of wind brought down power poles and trees, and the heavy rain caused flooding. Dozens of flights were canceled at San Francisco Airport. The authorities warned of possible mudslides. The storm was expected to last until the weekend.

The reason for the heavy rainfall is a weather phenomenon known as an "atmospheric river". These bands of extremely humid air could bring heavy rain for several days.

SDA