CNN
—
More than 15 million people from the West Coast to Wisconsin are under winter weather warnings Sunday as a storm system rolls east, causing life-threatening flooding in California.
At least two people have been killed and dozens have been rescued in flooding in parts of northern California over the weekend.
Thousands of Californians are still grappling with power outages and impassable roads after high winds and record rainfall hit the state.
A 72-year-old man died after hitting a fallen tree at Santa Cruz State Park in southern Sacramento County Saturday after one person was found dead in a completely submerged vehicle in the driveway on Saturday, officials said.
Emergency workers in Sacramento have rescued multiple flood victims by helicopter since deluge began hitting the city Saturday. Afterwards, he was in critical condition,” the Sacramento City Fire District said Sunday.
Crew members also said they “responded to fallen trees on houses and vehicles, standing water, floods and water rescues.”
The Sacramento County Emergency Services Department issued an evacuation warning Sunday for residents of Point Pleasant, Granville Tract, and Franklin Pond. Officials said residents in these areas should prepare to vacate before roads are blocked.
“Flood water from the Kosumnes and Mokulamne rivers is moving southwest toward Interstate 5 and is expected to reach these areas during the night.” murmured“Livestock in the affected areas should be moved to higher ground.”
In nearby San Joaquin County, flooding on Sunday forced the closure of factories. All northbound lanes of California State Route 99, California Department of Transportation District 10 tweeted. “SR99 is One of the most visited states in the stateand a corridor of commercial importance,” the company’s website adds.
According to San Francisco’s National Weather Service, the city of Oakland had a record rainfall Saturday with 4.75 inches of precipitation in a 24-hour period, breaking the previous record set on January 4, 1982.
Bad weather is caused by powerful atmospheric riveris a long, narrow region in the atmosphere that can carry moisture thousands of miles like an empty fire hose.
Now, with the same storm system heading east, there could be up to 1 foot of snow in the Sierras and up to 2 feet in parts of the Rocky Mountains by late Monday. Local forecasters warn that travel could be difficult.
Severe weather, including high winds, cut power to about 235,000 homes, businesses and other power consumers in California and Nevada on Sunday. Poweroutage.US.
The storm also forced some Northern California residents from their homes on New Year’s Eve as roads began flooding and evacuation orders and warnings were issued.
In addition to urban flooding, several rivers began flooding, including the Cosmnes River, the Mokurum River, and the Mormon Wetlands. sacramento.
Despite the flooding headaches, the humidity is actually a relief for California, which has been hit by a drought that began in 2022. driest start of the year on record We ended the year with soaking roads and heavy mountain snow.
It’s not clear how much the storm will affect California’s drought conditions.
Officials ordered residents of Wilton, Calif., to vacate the area immediately sometime Saturday, warning that rising water could spill onto roads and cut off access to the area. However, two hours later, Wilton residents were told to evacuate the area as water had made the road “impassable.”
Three communities near the city of Watsonville were also told by police to evacuate. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office The flooding of the San Lorenzo River prompted evacuations in the communities of Paradise Park and Felton due to flooding of the creek.
In San Ramon, police used armored rescue vehicles to evacuate residents from flooding.
The National Weather Service said Saturday, “With this rain continuing and countless roads closed at this time, the effects of the flooding continue to escalate.” I told them to stay still as there were reports of landslides and road closures in the Sierra Pass.
Crew members from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District conducted a water rescue and responded to a driver whose vehicle was crippled after driving through a puddle on Saturday, officials said.
Call it “Stormmageddon” Amador County Sheriff’s Office I shared an image of the car down to the door handle in the flood.
Highway 50 reopened just after midnight, hours after the section between Pollock Pines and Meyers was closed due to flooding from the American River. Another section was closed over Echo Summit for avalanche control work.
Interstate 80 was also partially closed Saturday near the Nevada line “due to multiple spinouts over the donor summit,” the California Department of Transportation said.
By late Sunday morning, Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada was reopened to passenger vehicles only “with restrictions on the R2 chain.”California Highway Patrol in Truckee murmured. Restrictive measures chain or traction device Mandatory for all vehicles except 4WD vehicles with snow tires on all four wheels.
“The roads are very slippery, so let’s work together to slow down so we can keep I-80 open.”
One of California’s most famous routes, U.S. Highway 101, was also temporarily closed in both directions south of San Francisco, with the California Highway Patrol saying, “Incessant rainfall and storm surges are impeding the movement of water. Therefore, the water has not receded.”
Residents were advised to avoid traveling in the Sacramento County area after gusts of up to 55 mph knocked down trees and covered roads with debris, according to a tweet from the Sacramento Weather Service.
The county declared a state of emergency, saying atmospheric rivers were causing “significant transportation impacts, elevated stream and river levels, and flooding” in the Wilton area.
Downtown San Francisco recorded 5.46 inches on Saturday, making it the area’s second wettest day on record. Bay Area Weather Service.
The heavy rain is expected to move south toward Southern California on Sunday with gusts of 30 to 50 mph.
Parts of Northern California are experiencing heavy rains while the mountains are covered in snow.
The University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab shared a video of 7.5 inches of snowfall per hour between 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday in Soda Springs, about 30 miles from Lake Tahoe. thick snow covering the area.
The lab said it unofficially measured more than 30 inches of snow on Saturday.
More than a foot of fresh snow fell on Mammoth Mountain’s main lodge on Saturday, the ski resort said. Facebookadditional work will be done over the mountains because all the lifts are covered in ice and there is a “very high avalanche risk”.
