A massive atmospheric river storm drenched the Pacific Northwest and left the region coping with floodwaters Wednesday morning.
The storm brought record rains, caused widespread river flooding and touched off landslides that shut down Amtrak passenger train service.
“We had an awful amount of things that peaked overnight,” said Steve King, service coordination hydrologist at the Northwest River Forecast Center, which is based in Portland and tracks river flooding. “This is a pretty characteristic major flood.”
Two bodies were discovered in Portland area creeks amid flooding, according to The Associated Press.
The region has experienced almost nonstop heavy rains since Friday.
“It just kept pounding,” said Brent Bower, a senior service hydrologist in the National Weather Service’s Seattle office.
The flooding has prompted several daring rescues. A Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue crew found a man in a small aluminum boat without paddles or a headlamp Tuesday evening in the midst of raging floodwaters on the Skykomish River, which is known for its whitewater rafting. Rescuers were able to pluck the man as he scrambled near shore after a rope rescue attempt failed, according to an agency Facebook post.
Atmospheric river storms are common along the West Coast. They often look like fire hoses on weather radar.
Last winter, California saw more than a dozen of these storms in a historic season that caused billions of dollars in damage.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, which tracks atmospheric river storms closely, forecast this event as a 4 on its scale to 5 based on its intensity and duration.
Atmospheric river storms are sometimes called “pineapple expresses” in the Northwest because they can draw moisture and warmth from waters near Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday, Seattle broke its daily temperature record at 1 a.m. — at a balmy 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Portland broke its daily record, hitting 64 degrees. A weather service balloon released on the Washington coast Monday measured the most potential precipitation in the atmosphere that had been recorded since 1948.
In two days, the Cascade Mountains, east of the big cities, received up to 10 inches of rain, Bower said. Lowland regions received between 2 to 6 inches.
When atmospheric river storms strike, they can leave an uneven mark across a region, concentrating rain on a particular river basin.
In King County, where Seattle is located, emergency managers said they’d been fortunate to deal with only moderate flooding.
“Most of the impacts here in King County have been fairly mild to moderate — road closures — some sinkholes that have cropped up, minor landslides we’ve been dealing with across roads,” said Brendan McCluskey, the county’s director of emergency management.
Instead, the storm’s effects centered one county to the north.
“The fire hose got us this time,” said Scott North, the public information officer for the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management, adding that the Stillaguamish River hit a new record high for flooding. “Homes are wet.”
Drone images shared by the county showed rural homes in a forested landscape inundated with floodwaters. On Wednesday morning, North said parts of the county were continuing to fight flooding. Residents were arranging sandbags as a pulse of water flowed toward downstream communities, he said.
More rain is expected into the weekend, but forecasters expect it to be relatively minor in comparison.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Dr. Sarah Adams is a scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to all. Her articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
