Scenes From the Atmospheric River That Drenched California and the Pacific Northwest

A gusty, rain-soaked storm swept through the Pacific Northwest and Northern California this week, killing at least two people and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of customers.

The dangerous weather, fueled by the season’s first major atmospheric river from the Pacific Ocean, battered the region starting on Tuesday. Forceful winds wiped out power for half a million customers in Washington. The Seattle area, where the two deaths occurred, endured some of the worst impacts.

The storm then moved into Northern California, where it disrupted hundreds of flights, flooded creeks and drenched San Francisco. It also dumped heavy snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges.

Though the storm is weakening as it inches south, residents are still reeling from the damage. More than 90,000 customers in Washington were still without power on Saturday morning, along with about 17,000 in California. In the region north of San Francisco, which includes Napa Valley, flooding is expected to continue through Saturday.

Here are photos of the storm’s toll this week.

Saturday, Nov. 23

Cars drive on a snowy highway over Donner Summit in California.

A cyclist rides through a flooded intersection in San Francisco.

Fog rolled in around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Some streets were flooded in Rohnert Park, Calif.

Staci Harpole looks over a flooded vineyard off Wohler Road in Forestville, Calif.

A mudslide near a home in Sonoma County, Calif.

Flooding in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Livestock graze on a patch of grass surrounded by the swollen Eel River in Ferndale, Calif.

A giant tree fell on Front Street in Crescent City, Calif.

Police officers help a woman walk through a flooded parking lot in Santa Rosa.

Police officers wave to a car trying to drive through a flooded parking lot in Santa Rosa.

Residents survey storm damage in Seattle.

Tara Brown surveys storm damage while walking her dog in Lake Stevens, Wash.

Utility workers tend to downed power lines in Sonoma County.

Tiffani Palpong stands in front of her property in Lake Stevens where her son was trapped by downed power lines and trees.

Isabella Karamitsos, a U.S. Geological Survey employee, deploys a sensor to measure water flow in Santa Rosa.