After a powerful storm on New Year’s Eve triggered landslides, power outages and road closures across California, residents were left to deal with the fallout Sunday as forecasters warned of more rain in the coming days.
High winds and torrential rain left tens of thousands of Northern California homes without power for most of Sunday, while record high waters on the Cusumnes River near Sacramento breached three levees and flooded the area.
Flash flooding along Interstate 99 and other roads south of Sacramento left dozens of cars submerged near Wilton, as water overflowed dams. Search and rescue crews in boats and helicopters She scrambled to pick up the trapped motorists. aat least one person She was found dead in a submerged car near Dillard Road and Interstate 99, according to local media reports.
“I don’t want to use the term apocalypse, but it’s ugly,” Sacramento County spokesman Matt Robinson said by phone from the stretch of Interstate 99 he described as a vast lake. “We have a lot of stuck cars.”
Power lines were downed Trees crash into houses It created more problems, said Capt. Parker Welburn of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
“It was a very busy night,” he said.
Power remained out at midday Sunday for more than 32,000 consumers, down from more than 100,000 who lost power overnight around Sacramento. On Sunday afternoon, the county warned of rising floodwaters around Interstate 5 near the southern edge of the Sacramento suburbs.
By late afternoon, with water levels rising in the Kossumnes and Mokilumne rivers, authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order for the community of Point Pleasant, south of Elk Grove.
“Please get out of the area and off the roads while there is still light to reasonably see any danger,” Sacramento officials wrote in a message on Twitter. “Take the ‘5 P’ With You: People, Pets, Prescriptions, Paperwork, and Photos.”
An evacuation center was set up at Wackford Center on Bruceville Road in Elk Grove. Officials warned that “flooding is imminent in the area.” “Flood waters become very dangerous after sunset.”
Some sunny skies provided much of the state Sunday’s respite from the torrential rain, but another atmospheric river was gushing across the western Pacific Ocean and was set to flood California in the coming days.
Northern California bore the brunt of the weekend’s bombing. Auckland had its wettest Saturday since 1970, with an average of 4.75 inches of precipitation. a Mudslide East Oakland has blocked part of Interstate 580.
Traffic flooded lanes on Highway 101 in south San Francisco on Saturday.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
The National Weather Service reported 5.46 inches of precipitation in San Francisco, making Saturday the city’s second wettest day in more than 170 years.
Highway 101 in south San Francisco was closed due to flooding as New Year’s Eve revelers headed out to celebrate, but reopened just hours before midnight.
In the northern California city of Davis, many residents were left without power after howling winds uprooted trees the night before. Residents awoke to blue skies, windswept, streets clogged with fallen branches, and inflatable reindeer and Santa Claus strewn about like toys thrown by a giant.
In much of the region, power remained out, with no indication from PG&E of when it might come back on. Some residents flocked to the small city center in search of a hot cup of coffee, a warm meal, or a place to charge their phones. However, most of the businesses were closed due to the lack of power.
The few who were fortunate enough to have power were full of people talking about when the power would return, and what to do until it returned.
“We’re here because we can’t open the fridge,” explained Nancy Gibbs, 67, who was with her family at Burgers and Brew next door to the city’s Central Park. She said she and her family had just finished eating dinner the night before when the power went out.
Cars were stranded Saturday along Interstate 80 at the California-Nevada state line.
(California Highway Patrol Truckee via AP)
While the drought in California is far from over, the wet weather that closed out 2022 has enabled at least a few of the state Main cabinets To exceed the historical average water supply.
Water leaks from the Folsom and Nimbus dams have prompted state parks officials to warn of safety hazards at Lake Natoma, where rapidly rising water levels produce dangerously strong currents.
The weekend storm was a boon for ski resorts. The ski areas of Mammoth Mountain and Lake Tahoe reported up to 42 inches of new snow.
In Los Angeles, where it rained heavily on New Year’s Eve, meteorologists expect the rain to return Monday afternoon or evening, followed by a strong storm in the Pacific Ocean with heavy rain and strong winds late Wednesday and Thursday.
In the 48 hours before the rain stopped Sunday before dawn, 1.1 inches fell in downtown Los Angeles and 5.7 inches in the San Gabriel Mountains.
The storm was relatively warm, so the snow level was mostly around 7,000 feet, with 3 inches falling on Mount Baldy, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
A weaker storm will get up to an inch of rain in the Los Angeles area Monday and Tuesday night, he said, after which a much stronger storm — another river in the atmosphere — is expected late Wednesday and Thursday.
“This is looking to be a very powerful system,” Sweet said.
He said 2 to 4 inches of precipitation is expected at lower elevations, and 3 to 6 inches in the mountains below the snow line about 6,000 feet.
The storm could also bring sustained winds of 50 to 70 mph, with particularly strong gusts north of Los Angeles.