Several hospitals, care clinics and pharmacies faced power issues and curtailed services after a bomb cyclone swept through the Pacific Northwest.
The once-in-a-decade bomb cyclone struck the night of Nov. 19, leading to at least two deaths.
A bomb cyclone happens when a storm's pressure drops 24 millibars within 24 hours; in other words, it's a storm that rapidly escalates. This cyclone more than doubled this criteria within 24 hours, according to CNN.
In Western Washington, dozens of pharmacies and urgent care clinics temporarily closed after losing power, Seattle Times reported. At Kirkland, Wash.-based EvergreenHealth, a two-hospital system, about 50 patient services were halted. Three medical centers operated by Kaiser Permanente, based in Oakland, Calif., closed, and a Seattle Children's clinic could not administer vaccines after losing power for hours.
Here are five things to know:
1. Fallen trees caused two deaths the evening of Nov. 20. One tree fell on a house in King Country and killed a woman while she was showering, and around the same time, another tree fell on a homeless encampment in Lynnwood and killed a woman in her 50s.
2. The bomb cyclone began near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds whipped at 101 mph, according to ABC News. The extreme weather event is tied for the most-intense bomb cyclone in this area.
3. A storm like this only happens "about once every ten years," the National Weather Service in Medford, Ore., said Nov. 19.
4. Late on Nov. 20, Covington Medical Center diverted patients to other healthcare facilities after struggling to connect with staff because of spotty cell service. Several other Washington hospitals are running on backup generators and have not had to pause care.
5. North California and Canada's British Columbia are also experiencing destructive winds. As the cyclone dissipates, the atmospheric river is picking up leftover winds. Flooding rainfall will continue to hit the West Coast throughout the week, CNN reported.
Editor's note: This article was updated Nov. 22 at 1:25 p.m. CT to reflect that Kaiser operates medical centers, not hospitals, in Washington.