Another storm swept through California on Friday, causing flooding and evacuation orders in several regions already hit by a particularly rainy winter in recent weeks.
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Up to 23 centimeters of precipitation are expected in places. Coming from a fairly warm valley, this rain is likely to melt some of the exceptional snowpack that has accumulated over the past three months.
Enough to cause a runoff impossible for the state’s waterways to contain.
Rain on “ground saturated” with water from storms this winter and on “the thick snow pack will cause significant flooding,” the US National Weather Service (NWS) warned.
At higher elevations, snowfall is expected to “cause traffic problems” over the mountains of northern California.
US President Joe Biden approved the declaration of a state of emergency in California on Friday to facilitate state aid.
“California is using every resource at its disposal to protect communities from the unrelenting and deadly storms that are hitting our state,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called for the emergency relief.
Numerous evacuation orders were issued, particularly in Northern California, where major flooding could affect seven rivers.
California, the country’s most populous state, has a particularly rainy winter. In January in particular, a series of consecutive storms caused multiple floods, landslides and downed trees, resulting in the deaths of 20 people.
“Pineapple Express”
The current storm, like most others 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 them the nickname “Pineapple Express.” .
“Stay home tonight if you can,” the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office near San Francisco advised on Twitter.
A car was crushed by a falling tree in the Redwood City area, but the sheriff said the driver and passenger are safe.
In eastern California, the Sierra Nevada mountain range has been covered in much thicker than normal snowpack for weeks.
In view of new snowfalls on Friday, several ski areas in the region closed their doors. In South Lake Tahoe, the weight of accumulated snow has collapsed the roof of a gas station and started a fire, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Local firefighters told the daily that there had been several similar incidents over the past few days.
“No one was injured in any of these incidents, which is remarkable,” said one of her managers, Kim George.
Further south, in the San Bernardino Mountains near Los Angeles, some villages are only just opening up after being cut off from the world for days, and some hamlets even weeks.
Some residents have expressed anger at the slow turnaround, and one man even stole a municipal snowplow in Big Bear last Saturday.
However, he did not cover his tracks in the powder: the machine was equipped with a tracking device, and he was easily detained by law enforcement agencies.