Record-breaking storm douses parched Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO — Across Northern California, crews worked Monday to clear streets of toppled trees and branches and to clean gutters clogged by debris carried by rainwater from a massive storm that caused flooding and rock slides, and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.
Despite the problems, the rain and mountain snow were welcome in Northern California, which is so dry that nearly all of it is classified as either experiencing extreme or exceptional drought. The wet weather also greatly reduces the chances of additional wildfires in a region that has borne the brunt of another devastating year of blazes in the state.
When the storm arrived during the weekend, people joyfully dusted off rain boots and jackets and children stomped in puddles. Social media filled with pictures that showed windshields splattered with droplets of water and single-word posts: RAIN!!!
The National Weather Service called preliminary rainfall totals “staggering,” including 11 inches at the base of Marin County’s Mount Tamalpais and 4 inches in downtown San Francisco, the fourth-wettest day ever for the city.
“It’s been a memorable past 24 hours for the Bay Area as the long talkedabout atmospheric river rolled through the region,” the local weather office said. “We literally have gone from fire/drought conditions to flooding in one storm cycle.”
Northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, 5.44 inches fell on downtown Sacramento, shattering the one-day record for rainfall that had stood since 1880.
The storm was accompanied by strong winds that knocked down trees and even toppled two big rigs on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Pacific Gas & Electric reported Sunday evening that 380,000 homes and businesses lost power, though most had it back Monday.
Water rose so quickly that two people and a dog needed rescuing from rising creeks in separate incidents early Monday in San Jose. San Jose Fire crews located one person clinging to a tree in the Guadalupe River at 3:30 a.m., but were unable to locate a second person. An hour later, crews rescued an individual and their dog stranded on an island in the middle of Coyote Creek.
As the storm headed south, precipitation levels fell, although a flood warning still was issued Monday afternoon for Los Angeles County.
Interstate 80, the major highway through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Reno, Nev., was shut down by heavy snow early Monday. In California’s Colusa and Yolo counties, state highways 16 and 20 were shut for several miles because of mudslides, the state Department of Transportation said.
The same storm system also slammed Oregon and Washington state, causing power outages that affected tens of thousands of people. Two people were killed when a tree fell on a vehicle in the greater Seattle area.
Justin Mankin, a geography professor at Dartmouth College and co-lead of the Drought Task Force at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the cycle of going from yearslong drought to recordbreaking downpours is something expected to continue due to climate change.
“While this rain is welcome, it comes with these hazards and it won’t necessarily end the drought,” Mr. Mankin said.
Christy Brigham, chief of resource management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, said the rain was a huge relief after the Caldor Fire torched an unknown number of the giant trees in the park, along with thousands of pines and cedars.
“This amount of rainfall is what we call a season-ending event,” Ms. Brigham said. “It should end fire season and it should end our need — to a large degree — to fight this fire.”
The Caldor Fire has burned for more than two months and in early September it prompted the unprecedented evacuation of the entire city of South Lake Tahoe. Firefighters now consider it fully contained.