A woman poses for a photo in front of Snoqualmie Falls after recent storms increased water flow in Snoqualmie.
Seattle:
Residents of the US Pacific Northwest were hit by fresh storms on Thursday after the region received record-breaking rainfall that left two dead in Oregon and triggered widespread flooding, landslides, road closures and power cuts.
Periods of heavy rain and fierce winds will continue across the Pacific Northwest and down into northern California as the next instalment of storms move onshore, and warnings of coastal floods were issued for 3 am to 9 am local today morning (1100 to 1700 GMT), the National Weather Service said.
Meteorologists on Thursday said the El Nino weather phenomenon, which can trigger higher-than-average precipitation in areas like the Pacific Northwest, is expected to remain strong through the 2015-2016 winter.
"We still have rivers over flood stage in eleven counties as of 6 am (local) but most of the rivers have crested and are falling," said Washington Military Department spokesman Mark Stewart. Rainfall was expected for today and Saturday, he said.
The storms this week, which shattered at least five weather records for the Seattle area, including the wettest first nine days in December, triggered mudslides and flooding, closed roadways and schools, and prompted Washington's Governor Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency.
In Oregon, a 60-year-old Portland woman died in bed when a tree fell on her house, and another woman drowned when her car became submerged in standing high water in the state's north, officials said.
Puget Sound Energy, a utility that serves Seattle, reported that the number of customers without power had dropped to 9,031 by Thursday evening, down from 37,000 customers a day ago.
The National Weather Service said it received reports of a tornado in Battle Ground, Washington.
In Portland, Oregon, a main utility said some 2,250 remained without power in northern Oregon on Thursday evening.
Schools in a number of districts were closed on Thursday.
Transit officials said north-bound lanes of Interstate 5 remained closed on Thursday north of Vancouver, Washington.
In Washington, rain-soaked hillsides in Cowlitz County collapsed late on Tuesday, knocking a house off its foundation and injuring one person, Stewart and local media reported.
In the nearby community of Kalama, flooding prompted evacuations of businesses and homes, and a pool of sewage-tainted water formed over several blocks and began seeping into the police station and other buildings, Stewart said.
In other counties, emergency crews used rafts to rescue stranded residents and saved a number of people swept from a bankside homeless encampment into a swollen river.
Periods of heavy rain and fierce winds will continue across the Pacific Northwest and down into northern California as the next instalment of storms move onshore, and warnings of coastal floods were issued for 3 am to 9 am local today morning (1100 to 1700 GMT), the National Weather Service said.
Meteorologists on Thursday said the El Nino weather phenomenon, which can trigger higher-than-average precipitation in areas like the Pacific Northwest, is expected to remain strong through the 2015-2016 winter.
"We still have rivers over flood stage in eleven counties as of 6 am (local) but most of the rivers have crested and are falling," said Washington Military Department spokesman Mark Stewart. Rainfall was expected for today and Saturday, he said.
The storms this week, which shattered at least five weather records for the Seattle area, including the wettest first nine days in December, triggered mudslides and flooding, closed roadways and schools, and prompted Washington's Governor Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency.
In Oregon, a 60-year-old Portland woman died in bed when a tree fell on her house, and another woman drowned when her car became submerged in standing high water in the state's north, officials said.
Puget Sound Energy, a utility that serves Seattle, reported that the number of customers without power had dropped to 9,031 by Thursday evening, down from 37,000 customers a day ago.
The National Weather Service said it received reports of a tornado in Battle Ground, Washington.
In Portland, Oregon, a main utility said some 2,250 remained without power in northern Oregon on Thursday evening.
Schools in a number of districts were closed on Thursday.
Transit officials said north-bound lanes of Interstate 5 remained closed on Thursday north of Vancouver, Washington.
In Washington, rain-soaked hillsides in Cowlitz County collapsed late on Tuesday, knocking a house off its foundation and injuring one person, Stewart and local media reported.
In the nearby community of Kalama, flooding prompted evacuations of businesses and homes, and a pool of sewage-tainted water formed over several blocks and began seeping into the police station and other buildings, Stewart said.
In other counties, emergency crews used rafts to rescue stranded residents and saved a number of people swept from a bankside homeless encampment into a swollen river.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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