Storm inundates Northern California; thousands without power in Seattle

Heavy downpours fell over much of Northern California on Friday, causing small landslides and flooding a river and some streets, including in parts of San Francisco. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people were still without power in the Seattle area after several days in the dark.
The storm arrived in the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, mostly in the Seattle area, before moving through Northern California, where several roads were closed because of flooding and strong winds toppled trees.
Forecasters warned about the risk of flash flooding and rock slides in areas north of San Francisco from this season’s strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land.
On the East Coast, another storm brought much-needed rain to New York and New Jersey, where rare wildfires have raged in recent weeks. The rain eased the fire danger for the rest of the year and was a boost for ski resorts preparing to open in the weeks ahead. Parts of West Virginia were under a blizzard warning through Saturday morning, with up to 61 centimeters of snow and high winds making travel treacherous.
In California’s Humboldt County, the sheriff’s office downgraded evacuation orders to warnings for people near the Eel River after forecasters said the waterway would see moderate but not major flooding. Officials urged residents to prepare for storm impacts throughout the week.
Flooding closed scenic Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, in neighboring Mendocino County north of Point Arena near the Garcia River, and there was no estimate for when it would reopen, according to the California Department of Transportation.
Santa Rosa saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 32 centimeters of rain, according to the National Weather Service in the Bay Area.
Mudslide danger
A small mudslide threatened a home in the community of Fitch Mountain, near Healdsburg, nestled in hills along the Russian River in Sonoma County. Moderate rain was falling, and officials worried the slide could grow and hit several homes downhill.
“Our concern is while this property may be OK, the earth between it and the road below is slipping, and the mudslide is affecting downhill properties,” said Tennis Wick, permits and resource director for Sonoma County.
Dana Eaton, who lives in one of the downhill properties and was clad in a yellow rain slicker and hat, said she was worried, too. In 2019, mud cascaded into a neighbor’s garage.
Asked what the past few days have been like, she laughed: “Wet. Constant rain. It’s like everywhere else in the county, but so far nothing major, just concerns.”

Power outages
In Washington state, nearly 127,000 people were still without electricity, mostly in the Seattle area’s King County, as crews worked to clear streets of downed lines, branches and other debris. Utility officials said the outages, which began Tuesday, could last into Saturday.
People flocked to a suburban senior center in Issaquah to get warm food and plug in their cellphones and other devices. One of them, Melissa Tryon, said she had been unable to charge her electric motorized wheelchair and had to throw out all the food in her refrigerator after it went bad.
“Today I kind of had a little bit of a meltdown,” Tyron said. “It’s hard to be cut off for that long.”
Gale warnings were issued off Washington, Oregon and California, and high wind warnings were in effect across parts of Northern California and Oregon. There were winter storm warnings for parts of the California Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
The National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada, reported a 206-kph (128-mph) gust of wind in the morning at the top of Palisades Tahoe ski resort, about 10 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe, where some runs were open. Gusts up to 138 kph (86 mph) were recorded at Mount Rose, which closed because of the weather.
The system roared ashore on the West Coast on Tuesday as a “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. It unleashed fierce winds that toppled trees onto roads, vehicles and homes.

Northeast welcomes rain
In the Northeast, which has been hit by drought, more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) of rain was expected by Saturday morning north of New York City, with snow mixed in at higher elevations.
Despite the mess, the precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions in a state that has seen an exceptionally dry fall.
“It’s not going to be a drought buster, but it’s definitely going to help when all this melts,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York.
Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains, prompting a raft of school closures. Higher elevations reported up to 43 centimeters (17 inches), with lesser accumulations in valley cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. More than 100,000 customers in 10 counties lost power, and the state transportation department imposed speed restrictions on some highways.