More rounds of heavy precipitation are expected to hit California on Saturday, and again on Monday. That storm was expected to decrease in intensity as it moved toward the East Coast, the Weather Service said. Another storm system soaked California again before barreling east across the country on Tuesday, spawning strong tornadoes, thunderstorms and flooding in parts of the Plains, Upper Midwest and South after dropping snow on Utah and Arizona. The atmospheric river that drenched the West Coast last week killed at least five people. The latest storm is part of a series of atmospheric rivers - channels of moisture from the tropical Pacific Ocean - that meteorologists expect will continue until mid-January. “This is a prime example of the threat of extreme flooding during a prolonged drought as California experiences more swings between wet and dry periods brought on by our changing climate,” Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. “This is really a godsend, just to see these storms lining up and hitting California dead-on,” said Don Cameron, whose Terranova Ranch grows produce on 8,500 acres in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The snowcaps act as crucial water storage until they melt during drier, warmer months, sending fresh water into the state’s rivers and reservoirs.Īnd the heavy rain and snow have brought a measure of relief to California’s agricultural industry, the nation’s largest. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range supplies about 30 percent of the state’s water, according to the Department of Water Resources. Water officials said on Tuesday that the statewide snowpack was at 174 percent of the average for the date - a silver lining to the storm pummeling drought-stricken California. In the mountains, heavy snow is expected. in the coastal hills, according to the Weather Service. The storm is expected to bring up to four inches of rain and winds of up to 40 miles an hour to California’s inland valleys, and gusts of 60 to 80 m.p.h. “Maybe it won’t rain that much,” he said. Gomez was hopeful about the coming storm and said there were no plans to cut back hours. Mayor Tom Butt said that a resident had warned him on Tuesday about some scarp and rocks falling from a hill, which was saturated and visibly cracked after days of rain.īut Mr. In Sonoma County, evacuation warnings were issued for residents living in flood-prone communities such as Guerneville near the Russian River, which was expected to swell beyond its banks by Monday.Īt a neighborhood in the Bay Area city of Richmond, local officials worked on Wednesday to head off a landslide. As a fresh round of rain approached California on Wednesday, he helped fortify the neighborhood with sandbags as his relatives headed for a hotel. Gonzales said that elsewhere in his neighborhood, home to mostly seniors, he had seen people in canoes rescuing residents. Then, at about 8 p.m., the water started rising, and the sludgy waters seeped into his house. “New Year’s Eve was fine until the evening,” he said. It had already been flooded, just a few days ago. But he said he didn’t plan to leave his home. In the agricultural town of Watsonville near Monterey Bay, southeast of Santa Cruz, Andy Gonzales, 69, was one of many under a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday afternoon. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency throughout California on Wednesday in order to more quickly marshal a storm response, and the authorities in several communities issued evacuation orders. Parched by drought for the past three years and scorched by wildfires, the state is spotted with vast scars that are especially vulnerable to landslides. But the rain over the past weekend saturated the ground across much of California, forecasters said, leaving it like a wet sponge and making it more susceptible to flooding and rapid runoff. Usually, rainfall amounts like those expected this week would not have a significant effect. A succession of similar weather systems is expected to pound the state for the next several days. The storm - which intensified from predawn showers to heavy rain, high winds and, in some places, flash flood warnings - sent Californians from the Northern California coast to Santa Barbara scrambling for shelter, and left hundreds of thousands without power. SACRAMENTO - A powerful winter storm, the latest in a series of “atmospheric rivers,” roared across California on Wednesday, battering the coast, inundating city streets, toppling trees and burying the mountains in snowfall even as the nation’s most populous state reeled from a similar drenching only days before.
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