Cars swallowed by a sinkhole outside Los Angeles. Sewage spills onto the street in the San Francisco Bay Area. And the rising flood water is a new reminder evacuation order for parts of Monterey County.
The state of California on the west coast of the United States has continue to be adjusted by what the National Weather Service calls “non-stop Parade of the storm“, with the agency predicting “another humidity surge” on Tuesday.
More than 34 million residents have been threatened by severe weather, totaling about 10 percent of the total population of the United States. Nearly 90 percent of California, the most populous state in the United States, remained on flood watch as of Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Our message to Californians is simple: stay vigilant,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday. “There are still a few days of severe weather ahead.”
As the state enters its third straight week of heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding, the number of people who died from the storm has increased to 14, according to the governor’s office.
A five-year-old kindergarten student is still missing in the central California town of San Miguel, after the truck carrying him and his mother got stuck in a flooded creek Monday as they went to school.
The mother, a local teacher, was dragged to safety. But the boy was last seen drifting in floodwaters, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Local police have since ceased their search, citing unsafe conditions for first responders.
“The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office wants to resume search operations as soon as conditions permit,” Scott Jalbert, director of emergency services from San Luis Obispo, said in a video Tuesday.
About 20 homes in Los Osos were severely damaged by floodwaters. Damage occurred in the vicinity of Vista Street and Montana. #SLOCounty Crews are at the scene assessing the damage. pic.twitter.com/YhNheVOtyP
— County SLO (@CountyofSLO) January 10, 2023
As the nearby Salinas River rose above flood levels, counties like San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Barbara issued evacuation orders for residents in low-lying areas.
According to the local fire and emergency services office, three people were rescued from waters near the city of Paso Robles.
One of the areas that was being evacuated continuously was the rich coastal region of Montecitowhere comedian and TV presenter Ellen DeGeneres took to Twitter to share about the raging floodwaters near her home.
“This is crazy,” DeGeneres said in a video as she stood near the roaring murky brown water. “We are having unprecedented rain. The creek next to our house never flows. [It is] maybe about nine feet tall, and it will grow another two feet.”
Montecito is under mandatory evacuation. We were on higher ground so they asked us to shelter in place. Everyone please stay safe. pic.twitter.com/7dv5wfNSzG
– Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) January 9, 2023
Cities across the state continue to report record rainfall, with the National Weather Service predicting widespread flooding across California and into neighboring inland Nevada.
Over the past two days, the Cachuma Reservoir northwest of Santa Barbara has risen nearly 10.7 meters (35 feet), according to county data.
And meteorologist Jan Null reported Tuesday that December 26 to January 9 was the wettest 15-day period on record for San Francisco since the Gold Rush, with The city receives up to 30.5 centimeters (12 inches) of rain.
The website PowerOutage.us said an estimated 220,000 homes in California were without power Tuesday morning, as winds of up to 64 km (40 mph) toppled trees and power lines across the state.
Soil left brittle from Years of drought in California has also been eased by unexpected rainfall — and that has led to landslides in hilly areas around the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. The neighborhood saw a stream of debris estimated to be 1.5 meters (five feet) high.
“It looks like the earth is shaking,” one resident told KNBC news station in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “It sounded like an explosion. Looks like the whole mountain is collapsing.”
Check out this neighborhood in Studio City on Fredonia Dr- the streets are covered in mud, debris and water up to the doors and bumpers of cars. People were asked to shelter in place as heavy rain continued to hit the area. @NBCLA #Overwhelm #Weather #LosAngeles #storm pic.twitter.com/5bbE1GIzQm
– Tracey Leong (@TraceyLeong) January 10, 2023
The National Weather Service said Tuesday’s storm will rapidly move eastward into the central Plains of the United States on Wednesday, but it warned of new systems poised to hit California in the coming days. next day.
“A massive tornado forming off the coast of the North American continent will carry yet another Atmospheric River toward the West Coast – this time affecting areas further south,” the agency said. north from northern California to the north coast of the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday.
Damage from extreme weather has cost the United States an estimated $165 billion in 2022 alone, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued Tuesday. That year, the administration recorded 18 extreme weather events that caused more than $1 billion in damage each.
The government said climate change is responsible to “intensify” these weather disasters.
