California is undergoing torrential storms at the start of 2023, which have already killed at least 18 people, according to the latest report communicated this Thursday, January 12 by the services of the governor of the State, Gavin Newsom.
The county of Santa Barbara, which includes the upscale city of Montecito, suffered the brunt of these extreme weather conditions which led to numerous mudslides. At the origin of these serial deluges, “atmospheric rivers”, bands of rain that travel across the sky, pouring down waterspouts. These have struck and continue to fall on a Golden State with waterlogged soils.
New bad weather is indeed expected, which will move towards the northern part of the state, warned the National Weather Service (NHS). Other states on the Pacific Northwest coast should be affected early Saturday, the organization also said.
“The heaviest rains are expected to impact Northwestern California for the next two days”with rainfall of up to a few centimeters, according to the NHS.
The torrential rains of the previous days generated vast power cuts, numerous floods, uprooted a number of trees and cut off major roads, the floods sometimes carrying motorists.
In places, levels of precipitation not reached for 150 years have been recorded.
Five-year-old missing
A portion of Northern California was placed under flood alerts or winter weather warnings on Wednesday.
More than 35,000 homes and businesses are without electricity on Thursday, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.us.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said forecasts call for severe weather to continue at least through January 18. According to its services, the storms of recent weeks have caused at least 18 deaths, or “more than the forest fires of the last two years”.
What is the “cyclone bomb” that is hitting California hard?
In Paso Robles, in the center of the state, a five-year-old child is still missing after being swept away by the waves on Monday while his mother, who survived, drove him to school.
Research is still ongoing and “we will continue […] until we find it”assured Tony Cipolla, a spokesman for the services of the sheriff of the county of San Luis Obispo, to the local media.
Floods, landslides, falling trees
According to ” Los Angeles Times »the deadly toll of recent storms includes motorists trapped in their cars by floods, residents crushed by falling trees, a couple killed by a landslide and bodies washed away by the waves.
Last week’s storm had already knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, caused heavy flooding and triggered landslides. It had come just days after another deluge of rain on New Year’s Eve.
This rainfall, however, will not be enough to replenish California’s water supply. Several winters of above-normal rainfall would be needed to compensate for the drought of recent years, experts say.
