California drenched – again
Second atmospheric river in week wallops already-saturated state
Yet another atmospheric river was drenching California on Sunday, potentially dumping a month’s worth of rain on already-saturated regions and forcing some residents to evacuate.
Sunday’s so-called Pineapple Express was the second such storm in a week for the inundated state, and 40 million people were under flood watch from the Bay Area to Sacramento, all the way south to San Diego.
Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles were predicted to be most prone to life-threatening flooding conditions, as well as mudslides, the National Weather Service said.
Winds were exacerbating the situation, with gusts exceeding 70 to 75 mph reported across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, taking down trees and causing other damage.
The National Weather Service in Los Angeles marked Sunday into Monday as at a high risk for “life-threatening and damaging flooding” in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles in “one of the most dramatic weather days in recent memory.”
Some communities in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and the city of San Jose were ordered to evacuate, and schools were closed Monday in several Santa Barbara County districts, CNN reported.
This “dangerous system” would post “major risks to life and property,” with roads and freeways shut down, canyon roads blocked by rockslides and with 1 to 2 feet of water potentially making its way into some homes and businesses, the National Weather Service said. Power outages and impassable mountain roads were also part of the package, as were thunderstorms, waterspouts and thundering surf.
Rainfall projections varied by location, with the lowest totals of 2 to 4 inches expected for San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties and 4 to 8 inches in the mountains and foothills, as well as other areas, including Los Angeles County. Some mountains and foothills could “fall into the 8- to 15-inch range,” the National Weather Service said.
At higher elevations that precipitation would be snow, with 2 to 4 feet likely above 7,000 feet. Farther north, 20- to 25-foot waves were predicted in the Bay Area with Big Sur potentially logging waves as high as 35 feet, ABC News reported.
Conditions prompted the National Weather Service to issue its first-ever hurricane-force-wind warning for the California coast, the San Francisco Chronicle noted.