A new round of storms threatens to batter soaked state with additional flooding, mudslides and power outages.
(Bloomberg) — Storm-weary California is bracing for new round of drenching rains, heavy snowfall and dangerous winds as the death toll from a series of atmospheric rivers reached 19 people.
State officials warned that new storm systems arriving over the long holiday weekend could trigger additional flooding, landslides and power outages with soils already saturated and rivers and creeks swollen with record rainfall. They were keeping an eye on the Northern California tourist towns of Carmel and Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula that could be cut off from the rest of the state in case flooding on the nearby Salinas River cuts off access to local roads.
“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward said during a media briefing Friday. “These storms are amongst the most-deadly natural disasters in the modern history of our state,” she added.
A series of atmospheric rivers have flowed off the Pacific Ocean to hammer California since the end of December, flooding cities and towns, triggering landslides and burying roads with mud, fallen trees and debris. The storms so far have caused more than $30 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather Inc. California officials said they continue to do damage assessments and do not yet have a total.
Over the past 18 days, rainfall has averaged 9 inches (23 centimeters) statewide, with some locations receiving what they normally would get over a year, said David Lawrence, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The state should get a brief break toward the end of next week, Lawrence said.
In addition, high pressure is starting to build over the eastern Pacific, likely forcing some of the incoming storms to strike the state from the Gulf of Alaska instead of approaching from due west, according to the California Department of Water Resources. That means the storms will be colder, with lower snow levels, and will carry less moisture than the warmer atmospheric rivers that have repeatedly struck the state this month.
Still, California’s far north could receive another four to six inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain over the next six days, while the south gets one to three inches (1.5 to 7.6 centimeters), according to the department.
Several of the state’s closely watched rivers are expected to peak at or near flood stage in the coming days. The Salinas River is expected to peak Friday evening but remain above flood stage near the coast through Sunday, according to the department. The Russian River, which flows through part of the Sonoma County wine country, is forecast to reach flood stage at the town of Guerneville on Sunday.
(Updates forecast in last three paragraphs.)
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