Ashish Ranjan
On Wednesday, tens of thousands of storm-weary Californians were without power and under evacuation orders as the latest storm bringing wind-driven rain and snow threatened to bring more inundation to the state.
The “atmospheric river” storm could dump more than 1 inch (3 cm) of rain throughout the day in portions of Southern and Central California, which has been pummelling since late December by an unrelenting series of storms.
In some locations, winds of up to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometres per hour) were predicted from the Mexico border through Los Angeles and into the San Francisco Bay area.The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and advisories for a large portion of the region, as well as portions of Arizona and Nevada, on Wednesday due to the continued rainfall and snowmelt.
“Our rivers, streams, and waterways are nearly full. Bill South, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, California, stated that any additional precipitation that falls today will only exacerbate the ongoing inundation.
California Office of Emergency Services spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said on Tuesday that more than 14,000 people statewide had been ordered to seek higher ground due to inundation, and that another 47,000 residents had been issued evacuation warnings.
Crofts-Pelayo stated that the majority of evacuation orders, covering approximately 12,000 people, were issued in Tulare County, a flood-ravaged region in the San Joaquin Valley where high water from recent levee breaches inundated communities.
According to the utility monitoring service PowerOutage.us, more than 100,000 homes and businesses in Central California were without power early on Wednesday morning after strong winds from the storm brought down power lines and trees.
“The system exceeded all expectations,” Pacific Gas and Electric stated on its website, noting that winds of 89 miles per hour were recorded in Santa Clara County.Additionally, the storm brought heavy precipitation to higher elevations. According to the weather service, total snowfall accumulations of up to 4 feet (1.22 m) and locally up to 5 feet are expected.
PARADE OF STORMS
The storm was the twelfth so-called atmospheric river to strike the U.S. West Coast since December, forming from an enormous airborne current of dense water vapour carried aloft from the ocean and flowing overland during periods of heavy rain and snow.
The rapid succession of Pacific cyclones over the past three months has caused a sudden reversal of fortune for a state that has been plagued by drought and wildfires for the past few years – a swing in weather extremes that experts say is symptomatic of human-caused climate change.
Also Read | Russia hits Ukraine with missiles, drones as Xi departs
Thousands of California residents have suffered extensive property damage and upheaval, and more than 20 fatalities have been attributed to the storms.But the abundance of precipitation has also refilled the state’s severely depleted reservoirs and mountain snowpack.
