(Montecito) Battered, flooded, devastated by a succession of storms that began last week, the California coast has not finished battling bad weather. Heavy rains are still expected this Wednesday and in the coming days in this state where 17 people have already lost their lives due to bad weather, according to the authorities.
The last two fatalities were recorded on Monday following falling trees. A 5-year-old boy is also missing after his mother’s car was engulfed in floodwaters in the Los Robles area, halfway between San Jose and Los Angeles.
The torrential rains, up to 35 cm in some places, caused major flooding, particularly in the Santa Barbara sector, where part of the population was evacuated. Roads were closed and about 80,000 residential and business customers were still without power at press time, according to PowerOutage.us.
PHOTO: KATHLEEN RONAYNE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Many homes and vehicles suffered extensive damage.
In the mountainous regions, very heavy accumulations of snow were recorded. This is the case for example at the Mammoth Mountain ski center, in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, which has received between 1.2 and 1.8 m of snow in the last few days.
“Our center is closed today due to intense snowfall conditions and the fact that it is currently very dangerous to travel in the area,” the company’s website said on Tuesday.
The daily Santa Barbara Independent calls “an epic amount of rain” about the rainfall in this central coast city known for its colonial-style buildings and trendy shops.
Further north, San Francisco was also hit by torrential rains, but the city seems to be doing better.
“The situation has improved since Wednesday. [4 janvier] when the streets of the city were quite flooded”, said to The Press Geneviève Tremblay, employee with French-Canadian roots working at Parkside Cafe, a restaurant in Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco. “In the past few days, we have had bouts of rain with occasional power outages. »
The establishment did not have to close, she adds. “We had a generator and were able to accommodate people who had no power. »
San Francisco and the entire Bay Area should however expect a new storm which will arrive on the coasts this Wednesday morning, with heavy rains and violent winds.
PHOTO DAVID SWANSON, REUTERS
The bad weather will continue for the next few days.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said on social media that future storms could still have “localized impacts” and that it was to be hoped that the periods of calm would lengthen between each hit to avoid “a increased risk of flooding”.
atmospheric river
Since the beginning of the year, the Californian coast has been subject to a succession of atmospheric rivers, a phenomenon known in this region of the world.
“It’s a narrow corridor [moins de 1000 km] which arrives laden with humidity on a region”, indicates in an interview the professor in the department of earth sciences of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) Julie Mireille Thériault.
For this moisture to turn into precipitation, it must hit a barrier. In California and on the entire West Coast, this barrier is the Rocky Mountain range and the Coast Mountains in British Columbia. They block humidity and force it to rise before turning into rain.
Julie Mireille Thériault, professor in the department of earth sciences at UQAM
Mme Thériault explains that atmospheric rivers are often nicknamed “Pineapple Express”. “Because they often come from Hawaii and warm regions of the Pacific Ocean,” says this climatologist, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Extreme Winter Weather Events.
Between November 2021 and January 2022, at least five atmospheric rivers impacted British Columbia, causing significant damage. The east of the North American continent can be hit by such a phenomenon, but it is much rarer, because the conditions there are less favorable, says Julie Mireille Thériault.
165 billion in 2022
On Tuesday, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) released a report saying major disasters to hit the country in 2022 caused damage estimated at US$165 billion (about C$221 billion).
PHOTO JOSH EDELSON, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Entire neighborhoods were flooded.
This total is the third highest since 1980, when NOAA began compiling the data.
Unsurprisingly, the costliest natural disaster of 2022 was the hurricane Ian, which devastated Florida in late September, causing damage estimated at US$112.9 billion. We also note that NOAA has identified 18 natural disasters with costs of more than 1 billion dollars in 2022.
The organization talks about the “amplifying effect” of climate change and a “new normal” in terms of weather events.
With Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, the Santa Barbara IndependentCNN and the National Weather Service
In short
17
State-reported death toll, as of January 10
90%
Proportion of state’s population of some 34 million affected by potential flood watch
25,000
Number of people ordered to evacuate their residences, including residents in the Santa Barbara area
The ordeal is far from over
Tens of thousands of people are still without power and mass evacuations were underway on Tuesday as the most populous of the 50 US states was hit by a series of fearsome winter storms. Here are the precipitation forecasts expected between noon on January 10 and noon on January 15.
Eureka
Located nearly 440 kilometers north of San Francisco, the small community of Eureka is likely to receive the heaviest rains over the next five days. Our graph indicates that the city of 26,500 could receive 7.5 cm of rain or more. The region south of Eureka could receive 25 cm of rain.
san francisco
PHOTO JEFF CHIU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco surfers braved the weather.
After a short lull Tuesday evening and into Wednesday night, a new storm is expected to hit San Francisco and the Bay Area this Wednesday morning. Heavy rain and winds of 50 to 80 km/h are expected. “Once again, we are about to get soaked,” warned meteorologist Drew Tuma on the ABC7 station. For two weeks, San Francisco has received 31 cm of rain, a record since 1867.
Santa Barbara
PHOTO ERICA URECH, REUTERS
The beaches of Santa Barbara are unrecognizable.
Santa Barbara, which bills itself as the “American Riviera,” has been hit hard by torrential rains over the past few days. “Monster rains soak Santa Barbara”, headlines the daily Independent. The newspaper reports the closure of Highway 101, the overflow of the Gibraltar Reservoir, and the evacuation of parts of the city. A break in bad weather is expected this Wednesday and Thursday. But four days of new rainfall are expected from Friday.
Montecito
PHOTO APU GOMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The community of Montecito is among the hardest hit in California.
Five years to the day after being devastated by a mudslide that killed 23 people, the community of Montecito was evacuated Monday following flooding. Montecito is home to several stars, including Oprah Winfrey, Ariana Grande, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Host Ellen DeGeneres posted an eloquent video on Instagram where she said, “We have to be nicer to Mother Nature, because she’s not happy. Let’s all do our part. »
Sources: The Weather Channel, National and Atmospheric Administration, ABC7, CBS Bay Area, the New York Postthe BBC, Graphic News and Reuters