01:09USA: 'Pineapple Express'-powered storm drenches Bay Area
The suburban central California city San Leandro was slammed by a storm packing hurricane-force winds on Thursday, inundating the Bay Area with heavy rain and causing schools to close while snarling transportation networks. The storm has left hundreds of thousands without power from California to Washington, and resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations along the West Coast.
The storm, said to be one of the strongest to hit the western United States in years, brought hurricane-force winds of about 78 miles per hour (125 kilometres per hour), including one gust recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains at 147 miles per hour (237 kilometres per hour). The storm is locally known as a 'Pineapple Express' due to its origin in the warm waters of the South Pacific near Hawaii.
Rainfall amounts are expected to range from 5 to 7 inches (13 to 18 centimetres) for North Bay valleys, and may reach 10 inches (25 centimetres) in isolated areas. In Oregon, a hurricane-force wind warning was issued in Portland for just the third time in the history of the National Weather Service.
01:09The suburban central California city San Leandro was slammed by a storm packing hurricane-force winds on Thursday, inundating the Bay Area with heavy rain and causing schools to close while snarling transportation networks. The storm has left hundreds of thousands without power from California to Washington, and resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations along the West Coast.
The storm, said to be one of the strongest to hit the western United States in years, brought hurricane-force winds of about 78 miles per hour (125 kilometres per hour), including one gust recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains at 147 miles per hour (237 kilometres per hour). The storm is locally known as a 'Pineapple Express' due to its origin in the warm waters of the South Pacific near Hawaii.
Rainfall amounts are expected to range from 5 to 7 inches (13 to 18 centimetres) for North Bay valleys, and may reach 10 inches (25 centimetres) in isolated areas. In Oregon, a hurricane-force wind warning was issued in Portland for just the third time in the history of the National Weather Service.