The storm is causing record rain and heavy snowfall in Northern California. Many in Seattle still without power

FORESTVILLE, Calif. — A major storm in Northern California on Thursday toppled trees, dumped heavy snow and damaged homes before dropping record rainfall, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters warned there would remain a risk of flash floods and rockslides, and several flights were canceled at San Francisco airport.

More than 320,000 people in Washington, mostly in the Seattle area, were still without power as crews worked to clear streets of power lines, fallen branches and debris. Utility officials said the outages, which began Tuesday, could last through Saturday.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, where rare wildfires are raging, New York and New Jersey welcomed much-needed rain that could ease fire danger for the rest of the year.

The National Weather Service extended the flood watch for areas north of San Francisco through Saturday due to the strongest flooding of the area. atmospheric river A long cloud of moisture that forms over the ocean this season and flows into the sky over land. The system came ashore like a “bomb cyclone” on Tuesday. strong winds blow.

Communities in Washington have opened warming centers offering free internet and device charging. Some medical clinics were closed due to power outages.

“I’ve been here since the mid-80s. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Trish Bloor, who serves on the City of Issaquah’s Human Resources Commission, as she inspected damaged homes.

Up to 16 inches (about 41 centimeters) of rain was expected in southwestern Oregon and California’s northern counties by Friday. Sonoma County Airport in wine country north of San Francisco received 6.92 inches (17.5 centimeters) on Wednesday, breaking a record set from 1998.

One person was injured when a tree fell on a home in nearby Forestville. Small landslides were reported in the North Bay area Wednesday, including one that caused a car crash on State Route 281, according to Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard.

The rain has slowed somewhat, but “heavy rain continuing into Friday morning will be back in the picture,” the weather service’s San Francisco office said on social platform X. “We’re not done!”

Authorities have warned that dangerous flash flooding, rockslides and debris flows are possible, especially in areas where hillsides have loosened due to recent forest fires. So far, soil has been able to absorb the rain in Butte and Tehama counties in California, where the Park Fire burned throughout the summer, said Scott Rowe, a hydrologist with the weather service in Sacramento.

“It doesn’t matter how much rain falls; it’s how fast the rain falls,” Rowe said.

Northern Mendocino and southern Humboldt counties received 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain in the past 48 hours and similar amounts are expected in the next 48 hours, forecasters said. Wind gusts can reach speeds of 50 mph (80 km/h).

The storm system that first hit the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday bomb cycloneIt occurs when a tornado intensifies rapidly.

A winter storm watch was in place for the northern Sierra Nevada above 3,500 feet (1,066 meters), with 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow possible over two days. Forecasters said winds could gust up to 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour in mountainous areas.

Sugar Bowl Resort, located north of Lake Tahoe near Donner Peak, received 12 inches of snow overnight, marketing manager Maggie Eshbaugh said Thursday. He said the facility will welcome skiers and lodgers on Friday, its earliest opening date in 20 years.

“And then we’ll get another foot or so on Saturday, so that’s great,” he said. Palisades Tahoe, another popular resort, is also opening Friday, five days earlier than planned, according to its website.

The storm dumped more than a foot of snow across Oregon’s Cascades Wednesday night, according to the weather service. Forecasters warned of blizzard and whiteout conditions and that travel would be nearly impossible at the pass level.

Falling trees crashed into homes and littered roads in western Washington, killing at least two people. A woman was killed in Lynnwood when a large tree fell on a homeless camp, and a woman in Bellevue was also killed when a tree fell on a house.

More than a dozen schools in the Seattle area closed Wednesday, with some opting to extend the closures through Thursday.

In Enumclaw, east of Seattle, residents were cleaning up after their town hit the highest wind gusts in the state Tuesday night: 74 mph (119 km/h).

Local resident Sophie Keene said strong winds caused transformers in the city to explode. “Things were breaking out everywhere,” Keene told the Seattle Times. “Like the transformers next to the park. “One exploded so big it looked like fireworks exploding.”

Ben Gibbard, frontman of indie rock bands Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service, drove from his Seattle neighborhood to the Tiger Mountain woods for his regular weekday run on Thursday morning, but there were too many trees blocking the way.

“We weren’t hit that hard in the city,” he said. “I didn’t expect a situation like this to happen here. Frankly, you feel the most emotion for the people whose homes were partially destroyed.”

More than 20,000 power outages were reported in California on Thursday.

Due to snow, only 50 vehicles per hour were allowed on a stretch of northbound Interstate 5 from 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Redding to 21 miles (34 kilometers) south of Yreka, according to the California Department of Transportation.

Transportation officials also closed a 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) section of the famous Boulevard of the Giants, a scenic route named for towering coast redwoods, due to flooding.

Nearly 150 flights were delayed and two dozen more were canceled at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, following hundreds of delays and dozens of cancellations the previous day, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Dry regions of the Northeast received much-needed rain on Thursday, providing some respite to a region struggling with wildfires and dwindling water supplies. More than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain was expected in areas north of New York City Saturday morning, with sleet expected in higher elevations.

“Any precipitation at this point is going to be significant,” said Brian Ciemnecki, a weather meteorologist in New York, where the first drought warning in 22 years was issued this week. “Will it break the drought? “No, we’re going to need more rain than that.”

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Har reported from San Francisco and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Hallie Golden and Gene Johnson in Seattle; Martha Bellisle in Issaquah, Washington; Sarah Brumfield in Washington DC; and Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed.