In Oceanside, California on March 15, 2023 after torrential rain. PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP
Flooded rivers, landslides, inundated towns, reservoirs about to overflow… The “rain on snow” or rain that melts the snow scenario that climatologists have been dreading for weeks has come true. The eleventh atmospheric flow of winter, Monday, March 13 and Tuesday, March 14, inundated part of the state and has been driven through the atmosphere by a succession of these narrow moisture bands since early January.
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Three new counties were declared under states of emergency by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, March 15, bringing the total to 43 (from 58), including 13 since record snowfall in late February. Fed by snowmelt at medium altitudes, several rivers overflowed. Although the rain had stopped late Wednesday afternoon, a hundred flood warnings were still in place; More than 200,000 residents were without power, and 88,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes or were told to prepare if the waters continued to rise.
Since the end of December, the 39 million Californians have been living to the rhythm of what scientists now call “whiplash”. After the first atmospheric flows in January and snowstorms in late February, from the Sierra Nevada to the Los Angeles area, a new series of storms is hitting California. As of December 2022, the state was still experiencing a “severe or exceptional” drought situation over 84% of its territory. The meteorological phenomenon, dubbed the “Pineapple Express” in reference to traditional pineapple production in Hawaii, has already claimed several lives: residents being swept away in their car by the water or crushed by a roof collapse, as in Oakland on March 10 , where a 57-year-old employee was killed at the Peet’s Coffee chain warehouse.
“I thought it was an earthquake”
On local channels, President Joe Biden’s visit on Tuesday went unnoticed, replaced by images of motorists being rescued by firefighters in canoes, roads being cut or bridges collapsing. He had come to present new gun control measures at Monterey Park near Los Angeles, the scene of a shooting that killed 11 people during a Chinese New Year celebration on January 21.
Firefighters respond to a propane heater leak and small fire at a restaurant in Mammoth Lakes, California March 12, 2023. MARIO TAMA/AFP
TV news has been turning into weather reports for weeks. Here roofs collapsed under the snow or members of the National Guard parachuting hay to the cows in the Grande Vallée. There hail the size of golf balls or trees falling like bowling pins on subway tracks or parked cars. In Soquel, Santa Cruz County, a neighborhood was turned into an island March 10 when the only street was closed after a drain collapsed.
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