Winter storm slams Northern California, bringing flood fears - Los Angeles Times

SAN FRANCISCO — 

A powerful wintertime storm unleashed pounding rainfall and beardown winds crossed Northern California connected Wednesday, leaving a tiny kid dead, triggering evacuations and powerfulness outages, and heightening fears of wide flooding and debris flows.

The aggravated downpours — coming aft an earlier deluge days agone — 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 unit of the upwind near tens of thousands without powerfulness and knocked implicit a state presumption canopy successful South San Francisco.

In Sonoma County, a kid who was believed to beryllium younger than 2 was killed by a falling histrion successful the creekside assemblage of Occidental, the Press Democrat reported. Occidental Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ronald Lunardi said paramedics tried to resuscitate the injured toddler but declared the kid dormant astatine the country aft the histrion fell connected a double-wide trailer, according to the quality organization.

Communities on swelling rivers faced the astir pressing concerns. 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 warned the stream would crest astatine 33 feet Thursday nighttime and flood again astatine 40 feet Sunday night.

Evacuation orders were successful spot for wide swaths of coastal towns eastbound of Santa Cruz, including Soquel, Rio del Mar, Seacliff and Capitola, a fashionable tourer edifice bisected by Soquel Creek.

In San Jose, authorities were 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’s 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.

The northbound lanes of Highway 101 successful Mendocino County were closed precocious Wednesday nighttime arsenic crews worked to region a descent of rocks and debris connected the roadway that had caused a clang astir 8:30 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

The grade of the flood hazard volition not beryllium known until Thursday. But the rainfall and upwind tin bring deadly peril; astatine slightest 4 radical were killed during the earlier storms, according to officials and section quality reports. A 72-year-old was struck by a falling tree successful Santa Cruz. Two bodies were recovered adjacent wherever the Cosumnes River flooded successful Sacramento County, inundating Highway 99, and different assemblage was recovered farther south, westbound of Galt.

This week’s moisture-rich atmospheric stream — fed by a plume of subtropical h2o vapor astatine the little and mediate levels of the ambiance — brought gusts of up to 85 mph successful the Bay Area and was expected to bring much than 6 inches of rainfall successful immoderate parts of the Bay Area done Thursday. The Sacramento Valley was expected to get up to 4 inches of rain, and immoderate areas successful the foothills, up to 6 inches.

Wednesday’s tempest is the 3rd atmospheric stream that’s deed California successful the past 2 weeks. The successive storms person brought a deluge of h2o to the drought-stricken state, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to state a authorities of exigency to “support effect and betterment efforts.”

The upwind work warned of accelerated rises successful creeks, streams and rivers crossed the region, arsenic good arsenic gusty winds that brought trees and branches down, causing “localized damming of waterways.”

Flash flood watches person besides been issued successful respective pain areas, including the country of the August Complex fire, the River Complex fire, the Mosquito occurrence and the occidental portion of the Dixie fire.

“The beardown winds we’re expecting contiguous connected already-saturated soils and further rainfall expected successful the adjacent 24 to 48 hours are truly going to exacerbate the flooding concerns and the imaginable for upwind harm and downed trees,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the Bay Area National Weather Service.

In Palo Alto, the rainfall didn’t truly statesman until astir 5 p.m., conscionable arsenic commuters began making their mode home. High winds scattered twigs, branches, conifer and redwood needles crossed constrictive suburban streets, arsenic roadworthy crews worked to support the gutters clean.

“It feels similar a losing battle,” said 1 thoroughfare cleaner, who declined to supply his name.

As nighttime fell, Menlo Park and Palo Alto constabulary cars drove dilatory on the streets paralleling the San Francisquito River, which flooded during the New Year’s Eve tempest — and was expected to swell again Wednesday night.

Concerns stay precocious astir the menace of landslides, which tin inactive hap days aft the rainfall ends. A hillside adjacent to homes successful Richmond was being intimately monitored by officials.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it has recorded 13 preliminary record-high streamflow measures crossed Northern California successful caller days.

Strong winds caused delays and much than 70 incoming and outgoing formation cancellations astatine San Francisco International Airport connected Wednesday afternoon. Gusts and soggy soils downed galore trees crossed the region, including 1 that struck a car adjacent San Francisco City Hall. Firefighters were capable to rescue the household inside.

A portion of the metropolis of Watsonville successful Santa Cruz County was ordered to evacuate Tuesday night. With the incoming rain, authorities became acrophobic that a culvert nether a large thoroughfare that was damaged successful a erstwhile tempest could fail, making the roadway impassable for aesculapian and instrumentality enforcement resources, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

Santa Cruz County has already suffered $10 cardinal successful harm from caller storms. The sheriff’s bureau besides issued evacuation warnings successful the bluish agrarian areas of the county, which was burned by the CZU Lightning Complex occurrence successful 2020, 1 of the astir destructive fires successful authorities history.

Rural confederate coastal areas of San Mateo County are besides nether an evacuation advisory. The country is astatine hazard of mudflows and landslides, authorities say.

In San Jose, officials were moving to evacuate unhoused radical staying adjacent creeks. A akin effort was underway successful Sacramento wherever officials were trying to person unhoused radical surviving on the American River to relocate successful beforehand of the storm.

But arsenic clouds gathered Wednesday afternoon, marking an extremity to the little respite betwixt deluges of rain, immoderate said they had nary plans to bash so.

Mark, who declined to springiness his past name, said helium had spent respective days trying to weatherize his campy truthful it would marque it done the storm. The 58-year-old had erected it close adjacent to a levee adjacent to the American River adjacent downtown.

“It’ll clasp up,” helium predicted, adding that helium wasn’t disquieted astir rising h2o successful the stream due to the fact that helium believed helium was precocious capable to debar inundation.

Trent, 53, who declined to springiness his past name, has been unhoused for much than a year, surviving retired of edifice rooms and his car successful Sacramento County and moving during the day. After braving the deadly tempest past play successful his car, helium recovered retired astir an evacuation halfway successful Elk Grove and arrived Wednesday morning.

“The upwind and the mode that is, you’ve got to interest astir worldly coming into your car,” helium said that night. “Downed trees, you know, and debris. That’s the biggest worry.”

On Wednesday morning, Land Park, adjacent the authorities Capitol, was filled with the dependable of wood chippers arsenic crews worked to region trees damaged by the past storm, immoderate of which leaned astatine precarious angles with their roots exposed. Dozens of trees were toppled successful caller days, and much are expected to autumn during the evening, erstwhile winds are anticipated to go much severe.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the metropolis was “preparing for a war” arsenic officials passed retired sandbags and residents braced for possibly different week and a fractional of rain, which would widen into the Martin Luther King Jr. vacation weekend.

“The cumulative effects of these storms could beryllium rather debilitating,” the upwind work said.

The San Francisco Bay Ferry suspended work Wednesday connected lines serving South San Francisco and Harbor Bay successful Alameda, citing beardown winds successful the forecast. A fig of schools said they would beryllium closed Thursday, citing the storm.

Several businesses crossed the Bay Area, including Apple Stores and the East Bay SPCA carnal shelters successful Oakland and Dublin, closed aboriginal up of the storm.

Tens of thousands of Pacific Gas & Electric customers mislaid powerfulness Wednesday, and the inferior has deployed further crews to woody with outages.

Wednesday’s alleged Pineapple Express tempest comes connected the heels of a New Year’s Eve strategy that dumped much than 5 inches of rainfall successful San Francisco. It was the area’s 2nd wettest time successful much than 170 years of records, officials said.

Three vehicles are submerged successful Wilton, westbound of Highway 99 successful southbound Sacramento County, connected Sunday aft dense rainfall caused levees to breach.

(Hector Amezcua / Sacramento Bee)

The bid of atmospheric rivers that started toward the extremity of December was somewhat astonishing aft 1 of California’s driest years connected record, which near reservoirs drained and soils parched.

“California is an bonzer authorities and we acquisition bonzer weather,” Wade Crowfoot, the caput of the California Natural Resources Agency, said during a quality league Wednesday. “At the aforesaid time, we cognize that clime alteration is supercharging this utmost weather.”

Crowfoot noted that contempt the dense snowfall and rain, the authorities remains successful the 3rd twelvemonth of an aggravated drought. It has marked the driest three-year play successful the state’s history, helium said.

“We’re inactive successful the archetypal fractional of the game. We’ve got large points connected the committee successful presumption of precipitation, snowfall and rain,” helium said. “That volition beryllium adjuvant successful coming adust months, but we’re a agelong mode from knowing however this bedewed play impacts our wide drought.”

Experts accidental portion the strategy is expected to bring dense rain, it’s not simply the spot of this tempest connected it’s ain that has prompted harm concerns, but alternatively the culmination of each the caller storms.

In October 2021, a similarly beardown atmospheric river brought important rainfall to the authorities but did not origin astir the aforesaid magnitude of harm due to the fact that the conditions starring up to it were much dry, said Daniel Swain, a clime idiosyncratic astatine UCLA.

Now, “it’s going to instrumentality a overmuch lesser tempest to nutrient overmuch greater impacts fixed however bedewed it is,” helium added.

Karla Nemeth, manager of the California Department of Water Resources, said the latest bid of storms is the astir almighty acceptable since 2017. Storms that twelvemonth astir caused the nonaccomplishment of a retaining partition successful California’s 2nd largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, and brought an extremity to California’s anterior agelong lasting drought emergency.

“The astir susceptible places successful California close present are agrarian levees — they are not required to conscionable the aforesaid standards arsenic the levees that support our our much municipality communities,” Nemeth said.

Times unit writers Susanne Rust successful Palo Alto, Christian Martinez and Hayley Smith successful Los Angeles and Anita Chabria successful Sacramento contributed to this report.