Emergency declared in California, Alabama
Declaration makes federal funding available for relief to affected people
US President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in California, as the latest in a succession of storm systems blew into the state, bringing heavy flooding to already waterlogged regions and threatening snowfalls of up to six feet (two meters).
The latest system was expected to bring “heavy lower-elevation rain, significant mountain snow, and strong winds,” with “another surge of Pacific moisture” expected Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
It predicted “disastrous flooding” across the lower Salinas River valley, a key agricultural region south of San Francisco Bay.
Late on Saturday, Biden “declared that a major disaster exists in the State of California and ordered Federal aid to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe winter storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides,” the White House said in a statement. The declaration makes federal funding available for relief to affected people, including temporary housing and repairs. At least 19 people are known to have died from storm-related causes in the last three weeks.
River overflowing
Among them were drivers found in submerged cars, people struck by falling trees, and a husband and wife killed in a rockfall. Rising waters and unsuitable conditions resulted in a halt in the search for fiveyear-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away in floodwaters as his mother tried to pull him to safety from their car, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s office said Saturday.
An AFP journalist saw the Salinas River overflowing its banks in many spots, at times covering farm fields for hundreds of yards, even as the rain continued under leaden skies. Biden also approved an emergency declaration for Alabama early yesterday after at least nine people died in tornadoes that destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands in the US Southeast this week.
Biden ordered federal aid to supplement regional recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes on Jan. 12, a White House statement said.
At least five tornadoes touched down in central Alabama on Thursday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jessica Laws. Biden’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Autauga and Dallas.