A car crosses a flooded parking lot in Oroville, California, on Monday, October 25.
Noah Berger/AP

In pictures: West Coast faces a barrage of weather hazards

Updated 5:51 PM ET, Mon October 25, 2021

A car crosses a flooded parking lot in Oroville, California, on Monday, October 25.
Noah Berger/AP

A "bomb cyclone" with hurricane-like strength and a chart-topping "atmospheric river" coincided Sunday and continued into Monday, unleashing flooding rains, wet snow, strong winds and coastal surf across the western United States.

A bomb cyclone is a rapidly strengthening storm that increases 24 millibars (a unit of pressure) in 24 hours. Atmospheric rivers are narrow bands of concentrated moisture that cruise more than 2 miles above the ocean and release rain or snow when they hit land.

Santa Barbara County officials upgraded a recent evacuation warning to an evacuation order for parts of the Alisal Fire burn area. Concerns were mounting about dangerous debris flows developing as heavy rain was forecast to fall over the recently scorched earth.

Workers clear floodwaters in Hollister, California, on Monday.
Nic Coury/AP
Rocks and vegetation cover Highway 70 following a landslide in Plumas County, California, on Sunday, October 24. Heavy rains blanketing Northern California created slide and flood hazards in land that has been scorched by wildfires.
Noah Berger/AP
A tree lies across a fence in Ross, California, after falling during a storm on Sunday.
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A motorist surveys floodwaters from Lake Madrone crossing Oro Quincy Highway in Butte County, California.
Noah Berger/AP
Workers try to divert water into drains as it was pouring rain in Marin City, California, on Sunday.
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A couple pushes a vehicle away from a flooded area in Fairfield, California, on Sunday.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Crews work to upright an overturned tractor-trailer on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in Richmond, California.
Anda Chu/AP
Heavy waves break against the coast Sunday in Depoe Bay, Oregon.
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A firefighter persuades a resident to evacuate a flooded area in Santa Rosa, California, on Sunday.
Ethan Swope/AP
Workers clear branches from a road in Forestville, California, on Sunday.
Ethan Swope/AP