Wallop

Yesterday, on the 29th of October, the Northeast had a record snowfall.  Trees are fallen, half a million people are without power--it's a mess!

So you could say that a storm "struck."  Alternatively--and more colorfully--you could say that the storm "walloped" the area.   "Wallop" means to beat vigorously, and by extension, to defeat soundly.

And where does the word come from?  Middle English from the French--from a verb meaning, of all things, "to gallop."