Bomb cyclone impacts West Coast, 2 dead in Washington state

(BELLEVUE, Wash.) — Two people have been killed by falling trees in Washington state as a powerful storm hits the Pacific Northwest.

In Bellevue, a tree fell into a home, hitting and killing a woman while she was in the shower Tuesday night, Bellevue fire officials said.

In Lynwood, a woman in her 50s was killed when a tree fell on a homeless encampment, officials said.

Over 470,000 customers are without power in Washington state on Wednesday.

The storm exploded into a bomb cyclone off the coast, near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds gusted near 101 mph.

A bomb cyclone means the pressure in the center of the storm drops 24 millibars within 24 hours.

The storm is bringing dangerous wind and rain to the West Coast.

Two to 4 inches of rain has been recorded so far in western Washington, western Oregon and northwestern California.

The rain started in northwestern California on Tuesday afternoon and it isn’t expected to stop until Friday morning. Twelve to 18 inches of rainfall is expected by the end of the week.

A high risk for excessive rainfall has been issued. The rain will be the most dangerous on Thursday.

Flash flooding, rockslides and landslides are all likely.

In the mountains of Northern California, blizzard conditions will be possible as winds gusts reach 50 to 70 mph. One to 4 feet of snow is possible at higher elevations. One foot of snow has already hit the mountains west of Redding, California.

ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

 

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