U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House January 5, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Angry Man | beautiful pictures
Chairperson Joe Biden on Monday declared a state of emergency in California after a series of deadly winter storms caused widespread power outages and flooding since last week.
Heavy rains, high winds and flash floods have caused at least 12 deaths in the past 10 days and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the state. National weather forecasters have warned of a “relentless parade of tornadoes” in the coming days that will exacerbate flood risk in central and northern California.
“Rain after heavy rain on saturated soil will create significant flood potential with rapidly rising river levels, landslides and flash floods or thin streams,” NWS forecasters said. crumbs cause burns”.
The President approved the emergency declaration for California during his visit in Mexico City for the North American Leaders Summit. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday night said he was in close contact with the White House to make sure the state had enough aid.
A resident walks along a flooded street after an “atmospheric river” rainstorm hit northern California, in the coastal town of Aptos, January 5, 2023.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
The president’s emergency declaration allows the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and provide assistance for urgently needed measures, the White House said. said in a statement.
The declaration covers El Dorado, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Ventura counties.
As of Monday morning, more than 130,000 California homes and businesses were still without power, according to data from PowerOutage.us. Pacific Gas and Electric, the state’s largest electric utility, said on its website Sunday that more than 4,100 employees are deployed throughout its service area — including those that have been hard-hit. hardest hit by hurricanes — in one of the company’s largest emergency response efforts in history.
A flooded street following a rainstorm in the Aptos Beach Flats neighborhood in Aptos, California, U.S., on Sunday, January 8, 2023.
Nic Coury | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
California has suffered from a series of atmospheric river storms, which are long, narrow streams in the atmosphere that transport most of the water vapor out of the tropics and often produce extremely short periods of rainfall and snowfall. .
Atmospheric river storms have superimposed on a low-pressure system commonly known as a bomb cyclone, a phenomenon that typically occurs when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass.
The upcoming storms are particularly worrisome because the ground in California is still saturated and therefore more susceptible to flooding and rapid currents. The NWS said it predicts up to 5 inches of heavy rain near the California coast and more than 6 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the coming days.
