Newsman: California has gone from extreme drought to extreme flooding in a matter of days. On Monday, 90% of the state’s population was under a flood watch.
The death toll from the wave of devastating storms rose in to 14 Californian as the latest “atmospheric river” slammed a wide swath of the state with gale-force winds and more than a foot of rain. Thousands of Californians fled their homes.
More than 34 million people in the southwestern US are under flood watches today as a powerful storm continues to batter California.
California Highway Patrol in Moorpark released photos of vehicles — including a semi-truck – stuck in 3 feet of mudflow and rocks late Monday into early Tuesday.
The CHP noted that Highway 126 was completely closed. Moorpark is northwest of Los Angeles.
Farther about 10,000 residents in and around the Santa Barbara County community of Montecito were ordered to evacuate. The town, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles, was the site of mudslides five years ago that killed 23.
More than 225,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday, many of them in Santa Clara County south of San Francisco. Heavy winds tore the roof of some buildings, thunderstorms were forecast for the area, and tornado warnings were issued.
“Due to the extreme rain and weather conditions in the area, and to prioritize community safety, classes are canceled,” the University of California, Santa Barbara, tweeted. “Please be safe and take good care during this challenging weather.”
Nearly all of California has seen rainfall totals 4 to 6 times above average over the past several weeks, the weather service said. In Ventura County, where 9 inches of rain had fallen by early Thursday, emergency responders rescued 18 people trapped in an island encampment overwhelmed by Ventura River floodwaters.
More weather was on the way Wednesday, forecasters warned.
Nearly all of California has seen rainfall totals 4 to 6 times above average over the past several weeks, the weather service said.”The endless onslaught of potent systems with atmospheric rivers of moisture continue to inundate California,” the National Weather Service said in a statement. “Torrential rain, widespread flooding, rapid water rises, mudslides and landslides with possible debris flows, heavy mountain snow and gusty high winds all remain threats to the Golden State.”
“An enormous cyclone forming well off the coast of the North American continent will bring yet another atmospheric river toward the West Coast,” the weather service said. The primary target will be northern California northward up the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
