Northern California storm kills toddler, forces evacuations - Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO — 

A almighty wintertime tempest that blasted Northern California with beardown winds and dense rain, knocking retired power, toppling trees, including 1 that killed a toddler, and flooding homes and businesses on the seashore successful Santa Cruz volition proceed its march done the portion Thursday.

While the brunt of the tempest has passed, scattered showers and imaginable thunderstorms volition linger done the bluish swath of the authorities arsenic the atmospheric stream — fed by a plume of subtropical h2o vapor astatine the little and mediate levels of the ambiance — moves east.

Forecasters are keeping ticker implicit flooding triggered by beardown waves on the seashore and successful inland areas wherever h2o continues to emergence on creeks, streams and rivers. Another tempest is expected to deed the portion Saturday.

The beardown upwind strategy triggered precocious tides and monolithic waves on the seashore of Santa Cruz County aboriginal Thursday, destroying sections of the pier successful the seaside municipality of Capitola and different successful Seacliff. The Santa Cruz Wharf was evacuated Thursday greeting arsenic monolithic waves pummeled the operation and officials warned spectators to question shelter.

When Emma Simpkins, 23, an worker astatine the Picnic Basket adjacent the Santa Cruz Wharf, arrived astatine the edifice with her co-worker astir 6:30 a.m., waves were breaking each the mode up to the sidewalk.

In her 5 years successful Santa Cruz, Simpkins said she’s ne'er seen waves arsenic ample arsenic the ones that pummeled the enactment Thursday.

“I was present for the tsunami a fewer months agone and adjacent past it wasn’t this bad,” she said.

A damaged Valero state presumption successful South San Francisco.

(JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

By noon, the tide was receding on Santa Cruz’s seashore line. The waves were inactive big, nevertheless — pounding into the cliffs on West Cliff Drive, which was closed due to the fact that of precocious surf and erosion concerns.

Onlookers stood on the obstruction and successful the parkland surrounding the city’s iconic surfer statue of the city. Down astatine the Boardwalk, logs and debris were pushed up to the obstruction line, conscionable beneath the amusement parkland level — making the formation look much Olympic Peninsula successful Washington authorities than California surf haven.

At the basal of the San Lorenzo River, immense swells carried surfers upriver, beneath the railroad trestle and toward downtown.

“I’ve ne'er seen thing similar this,” said Andrea Prost, who lives successful Scotts Valley but had driven to the seashore with her dog, Shelby, to cheque retired the scene. A transplant from Southern California, she’s lived successful the country for 16 years.

“The tide has gone down a bit, but the waves are inactive beauteous incredible,” she said.

In Capitola, precocious tides and monolithic waves inundated businesses with water, prompting officials to evacuate thousands of residents. Police Chief Andy Dally said during a property league that the flooding was triggered by a 5.6-foot precocious tide combined with a swell and rainfall runoff from the storm.

“Businesses sustained important harm down successful the village,” helium said.

Videos of the country amusement torrents of h2o surging into seaside homes and businesses that had been boarded up successful beforehand of the storm.

The upwind work issued a precocious surf advisory for the conception of seashore northbound of Monterey Bay done aboriginal Friday, informing of waves up to 22 feet and hazardous water conditions. In Monterey County, the sheriff’s bureau ordered residents adjacent the Carmel River Lagoon to evacuate Thursday greeting amid flooding concerns.

Intense downpours — coming aft an earlier deluge days agone — that lashed Northern California connected Wednesday pushed immoderate rivers toward flood stage, prompting a drawstring of evacuations from towns on the Russian River to communities successful Santa Cruz County and beyond.

The tempest has already dumped 2 to 3 inches of rainfall crossed the San Francisco Bay Area, and isolated showers are expected to adhd to that full done Thursday evening. Downtown San Francisco had the wettest 10-day play since 1871. Between December 26 and Wednesday, backmost to backmost storms dumped 10.33 inches of rainfall successful the downtown area, according to the National
Weather Service.

An bare conveyance is surrounded by floodwaters connected a roadworthy successful Oakland, Calif.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press)

Roughly an inch of rainfall fell implicit a 24-hour play crossed overmuch of the Sacramento country arsenic of aboriginal Thursday, little than forecasters initially expected. The rainfall mostly led to flooding successful municipality areas, though forecasters volition proceed to show stream levels, said Scott Rowe, a pb meteorologist with the National Weather Service successful Sacramento.

“It’s going to stay bedewed and unsettled for the coming days,” helium said. “Through the play and adjacent week we’re expecting astatine slightest two, three, perchance adjacent much storms to beryllium impacting Northern California, truthful it’s thing we’re keeping a adjacent oculus on.”

Communities on the seashore and adjacent to swelling rivers proceed to look the highest risk.

Sonoma County issued an evacuation informing for residents surviving adjacent the Russian River, including those successful Guerneville, Monte Rio, Rio Nido and downstream of Healdsburg.

Officials task the stream successful Guerneville could crest astatine 30 feet aboriginal Friday and whitethorn flood connected Sunday arsenic different tempest moves into the country and runoff continues to determination into rivers, creeks and streams.

“We were anticipating a highest this morning, but the information of the substance is we got a small little rainfall than we thought we were going to get retired of this storm,” said Cindy Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service successful the Bay Area.

The Los Angeles River flows aft dense Thursday rains successful Los Angeles, Calif.

(David McNew / Getty Images)

The Hopland country of the Russian River had exceeded flood signifier arsenic of Thursday morning, according to Brett Whitin, a hydrologist astatine the California Nevada River Forecast Center.

“It’s not arsenic precocious arsenic it was successful the New Year’s Eve flood,” Whitin said. “It’s a lower-level benignant of flooding going connected there.”

He said the forecast halfway is anticipating much terrible flooding during the upcoming storms done the play and adjacent week.

“The Sacramento River volition decidedly spot immoderate flood stages exceeded,” helium said. “The Cosumnes River that had the levee breaks, that could spot flood signifier again adjacent week. There’s that menace of exceeding flood stages astatine rather a fewer locations crossed the bluish seashore and the Sacramento vale system.”

In San Jose, authorities are intimately watching imaginable flooding that could impact populated areas, including on Ross Creek astatine Cherry Avenue, Upper Penitencia Creek astatine Mabury and King roads, and Guadalupe River astatine West Alma Avenue. Elsewhere successful Santa Clara County, officials issued evacuation warnings astir the Pacheco Pass River Basin and Uvas Reservoir.

In northwestern San Benito County, officials warned that precocious h2o levels mightiness determination implicit a dam spillway. If the dam is overtopped by waters, flash flooding could hap successful sparsely populated areas downstream, causing h2o levels to rapidly emergence successful Pacheco Creek adjacent Lovers Lane.

Strong winds were liable for overmuch of the harm reported overnight. A 100-mph gust was reported successful Marin County and winds successful different areas surpassed 50 mph, meteorologists said.

Thomas Heins is deed by a question portion lasting astatine the seawall successful Pacifica, Calif. connected Thursday.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press)

The unit of the upwind near tens of thousands without powerfulness and knocked implicit a state presumption canopy successful South San Francisco. Pacific Gas & Electric CEO Patti Poppe said successful a statement that much than 170,000 mislaid powerfulness crossed Northern and Central California successful what she called “one of the astir almighty storms successful caller memory.”

Roughly 1,800 PG&E workers were moving to reconstruct powerfulness connected Thursday, but repairs could instrumentality much than 24 hours.

At slightest 2 people, including a toddler, person been killed successful the storm, according to instrumentality enforcement.

In Solano County, a 19-year-old pistillate died erstwhile she mislaid power of her car and deed a inferior rod successful dense rainfall Wednesday morning. That evening, a 2-year-old lad was killed erstwhile a histrion fell connected his location successful Occidental, a assemblage successful Sonoma County.

The brunt of the tempest moved done Southern California aboriginal Thursday, but showers volition proceed done the day.

The acold beforehand and heaviest rainfall moved done the Los Angeles country around midnight, dropping astir 1 to 2 inches of rainfall astatine little elevations and 2 to 5 inches of rainfall astatine higher elevations, meteorologists with the National Weather Service successful Oxnard said.

Lin is reporting from Sacramento, Rust is reporting from Santa Cruz and Fry is reporting from Los Angeles. Staff writers Terry Castleman, Grace Toohey and Alexandra E. Petri contributed to this report.