By Le Figaro with AFP
Published on 03/11/2023 at 21:30
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A view of the Kern River overflow in Kernville, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. DOUG BRADEN via TMX/Portal
The new storm that hit California caused impressive flooding, notably rupturing a levee on the Pajaro River on Saturday, March 11 after killing two people and forcing thousands of people to evacuate.
“We were hoping to avoid this, but the worst case scenario occurred when the Pajaro River overflowed and the levee collapsed around midnight (Friday-Saturday night),” tweeted Luis Alejo, a Monterey County official. on the coast of central California on Saturday.
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The California National Guard’s Twitter account shared images of rescues of residents in their cars trapped by the stunning flooding. At least one road was also literally washed out Friday in a small community in Santa Cruz County, north of Monterey County.
” ALSO READ – Hurricanes in the American West: California Hit by Historic Storms
On Friday, California Governor Nancy Ward’s chief of emergency services announced that the storm had “unfortunately (…) claimed two lives.”
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California in a state of emergency
Those floods were caused by another storm that swept through California, which had already suffered a particularly rainy winter in recent weeks. Up to 23 centimeters of precipitation were expected in places.
Coming from a fairly warm depression, this rain would likely melt some of the exceptional snowpack that has accumulated over the past three months. Enough to plague the waterways of this western state with an unsustainable outflow.
US President Joe Biden approved the declaration of a state of emergency in California on Friday to facilitate state aid. Many evacuation orders, particularly in Northern California, were also affected.
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“Pineapple Express”
This storm, like most others that have struck this winter, is being fed by an “atmospheric flow,” a gigantic rain corridor that carries water vapor stored in the tropics, often around Hawaii, earning it the nickname “Pineapple,” according to the utterance “.
” ALSO READ – Overheated Mediterranean promises us autumn storms
In January, a series of storms caused multiple floods, landslides and downed trees, killing 20 people.