Tens of thousands of utility customers were still without power Tuesday morning as severe weather continued to hammer the state of California, forcing hundreds of people to abandon their homes and leaving one person dead this week and a kid missing.
Tuesday was predicted to bring more moderate to heavy rainfall as a new low-pressure system moved near California as part of a “parade of cyclones” that forced a number of rescues on Monday. Homes were submerged in water, streets turned into rivers, and cars were soaked in the downpour.
According to Anita Konopa, a representative of the San Luis Obispo County Office of Emergency Services, one person was murdered near Avila Beach, about 180 miles north of Los Angeles, after a vehicle was submerged in water.
According to Scott Jalbert, another agency representative, a youngster is also missing after being swept away when floodwaters flooded a vehicle in the county’s northern region, close to Paso Robles. Due to the severe weather, a search for the youngster was suspended Monday afternoon, according to Tony Coppola, a spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. Tuesday morning, it was unclear when the hunt would pick back up.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 63,000 utility customers were without power in California as of early Tuesday. The outage tracker estimates that at least 13,000 of those were in Sacramento County alone.
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As a series of storms that have already claimed 12 lives in the western United States pounded the region, heavy rain lashed water-logged California on Monday, with forecasts warning of flooding.
On Monday, a residence in Gilroy, California, flooded. Images by Josh Edelson for AFP and Getty
a “never-ending onslaught”
According to the National Weather Service, a second low-pressure system rapidly strengthened off the West Coast and sped into the state just as one episode of severe rainfall over the state was winding down.
The statement read, “Atmospheric rivers of moisture continue to inundate California under an unceasing barrage of powerful systems.”
Several more feet of snow were anticipated to pile along the Sierra Nevada, and moderate to heavy rains were forecast for much of California until Tuesday night. The persistent flooding and the potential of mudslides and flash flooding are both predicted to be made worse by the heavy rains.
Due to increased flood and mudslide risks, officials ordered an emergency evacuation for the whole city of Montecito, which is home to several celebrities, including Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, as well as for other areas of Santa Barbara and other surrounding cities.
Up to eight inches of rain were predicted to fall in Montecito, a town of 9,000 people that is also a favorite of American entertainment elite like Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Aniston. On Monday, heavy rain in Carpinteria caused the Arroyo Paredon Creek to overflow. Firefighters blocked CA 192 Foothill Road. AFP/Apu Gomes/Getty Images
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, the order was issued in Montecito “based on the continued high rate of rainfall with no sign that that is going to alter before midnight.” 10,000 people live in the area, and he said the area’s heavy rains had already flooded roads and waterways.
Nearly two dozen people were killed when torrential rains pounded a “burn scar” in Montecito five years ago today.
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The Santa Barbara Airport had to close as a result of floods brought on by the extreme weather, the airport said in a tweet on Monday.
The terminal is closed and all commercial flights have been canceled till further notice, according to the statement. The airport stated that the timing of its reopening will depend on the weather and other factors.
Four people were trapped after two cars were swallowed by a sinkhole that left a whole road “compromised” in Chatsworth, a suburban area of Los Angeles, on Monday night, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. According to the report, two persons were able to safely escape the sinkhole on their own, while the other two were treated for minor injuries before being transferred to a hospital.
Storms of all sizes struck California.
After a lot of rain, there was damage to the road in Scotts Valley, California’s Santa Cruz Mountains on Monday. Getty Images / Neal Waters / Anadolu Agency
At least six fatalities have resulted from the deadly severe weather that has plagued California in recent days, including a youngster who was killed when a redwood tree collapsed and crushed a mobile home in the state’s north.
The coroner’s office for Sacramento County released the names of two people who died over the weekend in what seemed to be storm-related incidents. The coroner’s office reported that Rebekah Rohde, 40, and Steven Sorensen, 61, were both found inside tents at different homeless camps, each with a tree branch on it. The investigation into the causes of both deaths was ongoing.
According to the weather service, rainfall totals in nearly the entire state of California over the past few weeks have been 400%–600% above average values.
According to research by the UCLA environment and sustainability department, climate change has increased the likelihood of extreme precipitation in California by a factor of two. By the end of the century, extreme weather is expected to produce 200%–400% more surface runoff, or rainwater that cannot be absorbed by soil.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency last week in reaction to the recent extreme weather, allowing local governments and state agencies to react to the changing weather more quickly. President Joe Biden also declared an emergency late on Sunday night to bolster the storm response.
A “giant cyclone” will hit on Wednesday.
Wednesday will see the arrival of yet another Atmospheric River toward the West Coast, this time affecting areas further north from northern California northward up the coast of the Pacific Northwest, according to the weather service. Tuesday’s storm system was forecast to push inland in the evening, bringing widespread mountain snows across the Great Basin.
The Transverse Range in southern California, northward along the central to northern California coast ranges, and across the Sierra will get precipitation totals over the next three days that range from 3 to 7 inches, according to the report.
The weather service issued a warning that significant flooding with wide-spread effects was possible in western Nevada and huge portions of California.