The president of USA, Joe Bidendeclared a state of serious catastrophe in California, where new storms are expected this Sunday, after three weeks of unprecedented rainfall that killed 19 people.
Biden ordered federal aid for the inhabitants and municipalities of that state, to repair the damage caused since December 27 by violent winter storms, which caused flooding, landslides and mudslides.
An impressive wave of rain, and snow in the mountainous areas, devastated many areas of the most populous state in the country last Saturday, whose already flooded soils are reaching the saturation point.
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A new “atmospheric river” is expected to return Monday, meaning a strip of moisture that carries large amounts of water from the tropics. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that it will bring “new waves of extreme precipitation”.
Power lines have been damaged, and fields and roads are totally flooded.
The NWS warned of “disastrous flooding” in the Salinas region, a major agricultural area south of San Francisco.
the governor of CaliforniaGavin Newsom, warned the population that they are not yet safe: “It is not over,” he said on Saturday after visiting the inhabitants affected by the storms.
Newsom urged residents to remain vigilant and continue to apply “common sense over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours.”
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order to evacuate
About 26 million Californians remained under a flood watch Saturday night, according to the NWS, and tens of thousands are ordered to evacuate.
As of 0800 GMT on Sunday, there were more than 16,000 homes without power, according to poweroutage.us.
In the Salinas region, a city of 160,000 inhabitants where the river of the same name overflowed, the flooding affected the agricultural sectors of the valley but did not hit urban areas, an AFP journalist confirmed Saturday morning.
Under leaden skies and intermittent rain, the water course broke its course in some places, flooding hundreds of meters of fields.
In Spreckels, a small community near the river, most residents chose not to evacuate despite warnings from authorities.
“It seems that we have avoided the worst”, said Robert Zagajeski, who was out walking his dog in a light rain. According to experts, the river should be returning to its course from Saturday.
In one of the areas, two tractors equipped with pumping equipment returned the stagnant water accumulated by the rains of recent days to the river, to prevent the soil from completely flooding.
“The region has been hit hard by drought in recent years,” Manuel Paris, a 58-year-old farm worker, told AFP. “It’s been a long time, we are no longer used to seeing so much rain.”
Brief breaks between the storms that have hit the area in recent weeks barely give authorities time to clear debris or restore power.
a meter of snow
In the mountains, this phenomenon translates into heavy snowfall, with more than one meter forecast over the weekend in Sierra Nevada, for which reason the authorities warn about the risk of avalanches and advise against any movement.
Images released by authorities of a major highway in the Lake Tahoe region show dozens of cars stopped in the middle of a snow storm on Saturday morning.
At least 19 people have died since the start of this series of storms. Drivers have been found trapped in their vehicles by waves, people have been injured after falling trees, a couple died in a landslide and bodies have been washed away by floodwaters.
California is used to extreme weather, and winter storms are common.
But scientists say the climate change is making these phenomena more ferocious.
While it is wreaking short-term disasters, the rain is badly needed in the American West, where more than two decades of drought have imposed unprecedented restrictions on water use.
However, experts warn that even the monster downpours that have hit the region this month are not going to reverse more than 20 years of below-average rainfall.
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
