Another powerful atmospheric river storm that threatens California with flooding, landslides and stronger winds over the next two days as the storm that engulfed the state last week is now moving through the Midwest.
“The storm is coming,” National Weather Service forecasters in the Bay Area issued an emergency warning late Tuesday, advising residents that the system would bring “strong wind and rain.”
As California continues to deal with deadly floods last weekend, the new storm, expected to arrive on Wednesday, will bring up to 4 inches of rain and winds of up to 40 miles per hour to the valleys and heavy snow to the mountains, according to the Center’s forecast. Weather Forecast. Flood warnings were in place Wednesday night through Thursday evening in the northern San Francisco area, and flood warnings were in effect throughout Southern California.
As the storm approached the West Coast Tuesday night, it triggered mandatory evacuation orders in the flood-prone city of Watsonville and Santa Cruz County, south of San Francisco. San Jose and the neighboring counties of San Mateo and Santa Cruz have declared a local state of emergency.
“Residents and visitors in California over the next few days should check their local forecasts and plan ahead for potentially hazardous weather conditions,” the Weather Center said. Meteorologists also suggest preparing for floods, fallen trees and power outages and say traveling by road will difficult to impossible in certain areas.
Hurricane preparations are underway across the state. California National Guard was seen installing flood dams and sandbags in Sacramento, and officials in San Mateo County, just west of San Jose, have activate its emergency operations center. Several parks throughout Northern California have also been closed because of the risk of trees, and South San Francisco Unified School District said it will cancel classes on Thursday.
governor’s office say on Twitter that the state operations center is at the highest level of emergency and that the flood control center is helping locals get sandbags and other storm supplies. Shelters have been opened and staff are ready to be deployed to hospitals and ambulance crews, officials said.
The latest storm is part of series belong to atmospheric riveroutflows of moisture from the tropical Pacific Ocean, which meteorologists say will continue until mid-January.
In drought-stricken California, heavy rain and snow provided a measure of relief. But rising waters have flooded streets and flooded homes in parts of the state. Streets and basements are still draining in downtown San Francisco, one of the areas hardest hit by the approaching storm.
Already drenched by successive storms, California’s soil has become less absorbent, so even a few inches of rain could flood it, forecasters say. landslide.
“Recent rainfall has left the soil saturated and prone to flooding and raised concerns about rapid runoff,” said the Center for Forecasting. “The terrain is sensitive to landslides as well.”
An atmospheric river drenched the West Coast on December 26 kill at least five people. another one freeze box across the country on Tuesday, causing powerful tornadoes, thunderstorms and flooding in parts of the Plains, Upper Midwest and South after snowfall in Utah and Arizona.
The Center for Forecasting said that storm will decrease in intensity across the Midwest on Wednesday night as it shifts to the East Coast. It continued to cause tornadoes and brought heavy hail over the Midwest and Southeast on Tuesday night.
Derrick Bryson Taylor contribution report.
