Winter storm batters western US, cuts power to around 750,000 customers

SACRAMENTO, United States - Wind gusts of 231 km/h at Mount Coffin, Wyoming, marked the peak intensity of a winter storm that tore across the western and central United States, cutting electricity to around 750,000 customers nationwide, according to media reports recently.

There were also reports on Wednesday of wind gusts of 228 km/h at Coldwater Ridge in Washington state and 222 km/h at Mount Hood, Oregon.

According to online outage trackers, nearly 600,000 electricity customers across Washington state, Oregon and Idaho lost service as of Thursday.

The storm drew its strength from an atmospheric river, a meteorological phenomenon in which narrow bands of moisture stream from tropical waters toward cooler regions and release enormous volumes of rain and snow upon hitting coastal mountains.

Washington state was the hardest hit, with levee problems and swollen rivers forcing evacuations in communities near Seattle. In Snohomish, northeast of Seattle, authorities reported that a man died in a submerged vehicle after driving past road-closure signs into floodwater.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson described the destruction as profound. A long stretch of US Route 2, a vital east-west highway connecting cities in western Washington, has been severely damaged and will face prolonged closures as transportation crews rebuild washed-out sections, officials said.

More atmospheric rivers are approaching the coast. The National Weather Service has issued an outlook showing a 60 percent to 70 percent chance of above-normal precipitation for the San Francisco Bay Area in California between Dec. 19 and 25, raising concerns about potential flooding.