Weather Updates: Powerful Storm Threatens California With More Flooding - The New York Times

U.S.|Powerful Storm Threatens California With More Flooding

SACRAMENTO — Rain lashed the Bay Area aboriginal Wednesday arsenic Californians braced for different almighty storm, which forecasters said would bring much flooding, landslides and damaging winds conscionable days aft different “atmospheric river” drenched the West Coast.

Usually, rainfall amounts similar those expected implicit the adjacent mates of days would not person a important impact. But the rainfall implicit the play near the crushed crossed overmuch of California saturated, similar a bedewed sponge, forecasters said, making the authorities much susceptible to flooding and accelerated runoff.

Storm preparations were successful afloat plaything crossed the state. The California National Guard was installing flood dams and sandbags successful Sacramento, and respective parks crossed Northern California were closed due to the fact that of the menace that beardown upwind gusts would topple trees. The South San Francisco Unified School District said it would cancel classes connected Thursday.

The caller tempest is expected to bring up to 4 inches of rainfall and winds of up to 40 miles an hr to California’s inland valleys implicit the adjacent mates of days, and gusts of 60 to 80 m.p.h. successful the coastal hills, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snowfall is besides expected successful the mountains.

Flood warnings were successful spot from Wednesday evening to Thursday northbound of San Francisco, and flood watches were successful effect crossed Southern California. Rainfall was forecast to commencement disconnected slow, past get heavier passim Wednesday, accompanied by beardown winds and thunderstorms. “Don’t fto your defender down,” the Weather Service warned.

As the tempest approached connected Tuesday night, a mandatory evacuation bid was issued successful the flood-prone metropolis of Watsonville and different parts of Santa Cruz County, southbound of San Francisco. The metropolis of San Jose declared a section emergency, arsenic did the adjacent counties of San Mateo and Santa Cruz.

Meteorologists suggested preparing for flooding, downed trees and powerfulness outages, and said that traveling by roadworthy would be hard oregon intolerable successful definite areas.

The latest tempest is portion of a series of atmospheric rivers — channels of moisture from the tropical Pacific Ocean — that meteorologists expect volition proceed until mid-January. “The message to convey is resiliency, as this is not a ‘one and done’ storm,” the Bay Area bureau of the Weather Service wrote connected Wednesday morning.

The dense rainfall and snowfall person brought a measurement of alleviation to drought-plagued California, particularly for its cultivation industry. “This is truly a godsend, conscionable to spot these storms lining up and hitting California dead-on,” said Don Cameron, whose Terranova Ranch grows nutrient connected 8,500 acres successful the confederate San Joaquin Valley.

But rising waters person besides swamped streets and flooded homes successful parts of the state. Streets and basements were inactive draining connected Wednesday successful downtown San Francisco, 1 of the areas expected to beryllium hardest deed by the approaching storm.

An atmospheric stream that drenched the West Coast connected Dec. 26 killed astatine slightest 5 people. Another tempest strategy soaked California again earlier barreling eastbound crossed the country connected Tuesday, spawning beardown tornadoes, thunderstorms and flooding successful parts of the Plains, Upper Midwest and South aft dropping snowfall connected Utah and Arizona.

That tempest was expected to alteration successful strength by Wednesday nighttime arsenic it moves toward the East Coast, the National Weather Service said.

Shawn Hubler reported from Sacramento. Derrick Bryson Taylor, Christine Hauser and Judson Jones besides contributed reporting.