Floodwaters flooded a house by the Salinas River near Chualar, Calif., on Saturday. A series of atmospheric river storms continue to cause widespread devastation across the state.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
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David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Floodwaters flooded a house by the Salinas River near Chualar, Calif., on Saturday. A series of atmospheric river storms continue to cause widespread devastation across the state.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Heavy rains, wind and snow have once again hit California, leading to flood warnings and power outages in some areas.
The storms are expected to continue through at least the weekend, The National Weather Service said.
Flood warnings have been issued throughout the Bay Area and Central Valley, including Mendocino, Napa, Marin, Sonoma, Sacramento, Merced and Fresno counties.
Evacuations were issued in Monterey County on the central coast, where the banks of the Salinas River are flooded with farmland.
In the east, Governor Gavin Newsom visited hard-hit Merced County on Saturday, along with local officials.
“The reality is that this is only the eighth of what we predict will be nine atmospheric rivers – we’re not done yet,” Newsom said at a news conference.
In an aerial view, farm equipment is seen submerged in flood water after the Salinas River overflowed its banks Friday in Salinas, Calif.
Photos Justin Sullivan/Getty
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Photos Justin Sullivan/Getty
In an aerial view, farm equipment is seen submerged in flood water after the Salinas River overflowed its banks Friday in Salinas, Calif.
Photos Justin Sullivan/Getty
Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto said 5,000 homes had been ordered to evacuate in the area, which he said was experiencing record flooding.
Further south, a flood warning has been issued for Santa Cruz County. Rising floodwaters from the San Lorenzo River on Saturday morning forced residents to evacuate their small low-lying communities of Felton Grove and Soquel Village.
Since last month, a series of atmospheric river repressed the state. Since then, at least 19 people have died in storm-related incidents, and a 5 year old child People swept away by floodwaters in San Luis Obispo County are still missing. The governor said recent weather events have resulted in more deaths than wildfires in the state’s past two years.
More than 24,000 customers were without power on Saturday night, according to power outage.ushas more than doubled that number since Saturday morning.
According to the Weather Prediction Center, the state will continue to have periodic rain through Wednesday, with 2 to 4 inches of rain expected to drop along the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
“The end is in sight” for this storm, said meteorologist David Roth.
In Montecito, an affluent enclave in Santa Barbara County, residents are still cleaning up after flooding covered roads in mud and triggered landslides early last week.
The town is not repeated in 2018, when 23 people died in a catastrophic debris flow. Much of the community was ordered to evacuate on the 5th anniversary of the incident; Residents were a little more concerned with the march of storms and had heeded warnings from officials.
Erika Gabrielli, of Montecito, said: “I think it’s a fact that, you know, this isn’t something that’s going to happen intermittently. “But with climate change and other things happening, we may have to start preparing for a possible normal.”
Helen Barrington of CapRadio and Matt Guilhem of KCRW contributed to this report.
