Thousands of California residents were in darkness on Wednesday as winds up to 63 miles per hour blew over the Seattle area and toppled power lines as the "Pineapple Express" hit the state.

As of Thursday, more than 100,000 still have no power in the Bay area as an aftermath of the strongest storm that hit California in five years.

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CNN reports that 18,000 customers of Portland General Electric, 32,000 of Pacific Power in Oregon and 225,000 residents from northern California up to the border with Canada lost power.

The moisture-packed storm is also called an atmospheric river, but is more known as "Pineapple Express" because it originated in Hawaii, reports ABC.

Authorities ordered the closure of schools in the state on Thursday, which made more than 100,000 students remain at their homes. Mass transit operators also temporarily stopped operations.

In Lake Tahoe, despite waves reaching as high as 7 feet, some brave surfers took the opportunity to ride the powerful waves as it was one of the rare times that the usually calm lake gets angry. The Placer County Sheriff's Office posted some photos of the daredevil wave-riders at its Facebook page.

About 2.5 inches of rain poured on Thursday which contributed to the power outages in parts of California, but in other parts of the state, the rainfall was heavier such as in the Petrified Forest where 14.6 inches of rain fell. At St. Helena, the rainfall was 4.64 inches, while a forecast warns that the Napa River would crest at almost 18.8 feet.

The National Weather Service warned that moderate flooding by Napa River could result in damage to agricultural produce, erosion of land and closure of main roads.

The bad weather also caused the cancellation of 236 flights in San Francisco International Airport, accounting for 40 percent of the 589 flight cancellations across the U.S. mostly due to the inclement weather.

California commuter Kim Cheadle told CNN, which noted that the rain that Californians had been praying for the end the drought is now flooding the state.

"We need it, but I wish it would come more evenly spread out instead of all in one night," said Cheadle.

TagsCalifornia storm, california, fierce storm, drought, power outage