At least one dead and more than 650,000 homes without power in a 'bomb cyclone' on the East Coast

At least one person died Tuesday afternoon in Washington state as a powerful winter storm passed through, while more than 650,000 homes remained without power Wednesday morning, according to data from PowerOutage.com. The city of Enumclaw even recorded winds of 74 mph, the minimum strength for a Category 1 hurricane.

The only confirmed death, so far, occurred in Snohomish County, where firefighters went to a homeless encampment after a tree fell. "Tragically, a woman in her 50s died," they reported on social media. "No other injuries were reported." Two people are hospitalized from a similar episode, while hundreds of calls for assistance were recorded.

Strong winds and precipitation on the East Coast have also led Amtrak to announce the cancellation of trains and authorities to recommend not driving on the roads.

One of the thousands affected by the power loss was Seattle's own National Weather Service (NWS). State emergency services acknowledged that "power is out in many areas" and advised those with generators to keep them in "well ventilated areas" to avoid the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Also, the Washington Division of Emergency Management recalled the importance of having phones charged and vehicles refueled, as "when severe weather strikes, gas pumps may be out of order." Local alerts can be found at this link.

The NWS also warned of heavy snowfall in the Cascade Range. It also advised that strong winds would continue early Wednesday and that the storm would hit the Bay Area, Northern California, Oregon and Canada causing flooding and winds.

Weather projections predict the bad weather to last through Friday.