"Catastrophic" flooding from an atmospheric river that walloped Washington state this week will continue on Friday, officials from the National Water Center (NWC) warned in an update.

A strong atmospheric river slammed into the Pacific Northwest on Monday, with prolonged and significant flooding continuing to bring life-threatening impacts across The Evergreen State on Friday. Several levees faced the threat of severe damage or erosion as numerous rivers hit major flood stages , breaking all-time records in some cases. Even once rain has stopped, flooding could persist for days, NWC director Ed Clark told Newsweek .

On Thursday, the NWS office in Seattle issued 72-hour rainfall totals for the state, with many areas seeing over a foot of rain.

Atmospheric rivers are a "lon

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