USA: Strong wave of bad weather – At least two dead, 350,000 homes and businesses blacked out

A second strong storm, accompanied by gusty winds, is expected to hit the Northwestern United States tonight, as hundreds of thousands of people remain without power from the torrential rains and snowfall caused by a first such system.

The gale-force winds, which swept the country in the first stage, died down along the southwest Washington and Oregon region at noon local time Wednesday. But images of homes and cars destroyed by uprooted trees in Washington flooded social media.

Two women died after trees fell near Seattle and people were injured.

About 350,000 homes and businesses remain plunged into darkness in Washington, Oregon and Northern California, a number lower than the 600,000 recorded earlier.

The storm and torrential rains also damaged the electricity system in the province of British Columbia on Canada’s Pacific coast and left about 225,000 consumers without power Tuesday night, according to electricity utility BC Hydro.

By Wednesday night local time, about 64,000 consumers, mostly on Vancouver Island, were without power.

About 279 millimetres of rain had already fallen yesterday and overnight Wednesday into Thursday in Northern California, while higher elevations also saw snowfall, said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Centre.

According to him, the storm is over North Carolina, and rainfall is expected to reach 250 millimeters.

Wind gusts of 105 kilometers per hour are expected tonight and the risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides and rockslides remains high across the region, the NWS warned.

Rainfall will continue over North Carolina in the coming days, Otto explained, and the extreme weather is not expected to weaken until Saturday.

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