Powerful Pacific tempest clobbers California
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A strong late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California has been blamed for two deaths and forecasters said additional flooding was possible Wednesday in parts of the state.
Tuesday’s storm blasted the San Francisco Bay Area with powerful gusts and downpours, pounded Sacramento – the state capital – with intense hail and triggered a rare tornado warning on the Southern California coast.
The storm was gradually tapering off in California from north to south as the expansive system pushed inland across the Southwest, the Four Corners region and the central and southern Rockies, the National Weather Service said. On Tuesday, some residents of north-central Arizona were told to prepare to evacuate because of rising water levels in rivers and basins.
A tornado warning based on radar was issued for the Point Mugu area west of Malibu during the evening after meteorologists warned that conditions were favourable for creating waterspouts that could move ashore. The warning was later canceled and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office tweeted there was no evidence a tornado touched down.
The wind and rain mayhem from San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay on Tuesday was caused by an extraordinary drop in barometric pressure over the eastern Pacific that meteorologists described as “explosive cyclogenisis.”
“Wow. Even by the standards of what has turned out to be one of our most extraordinary winter seasons in a very long time, yesterday ... stands out,” the Bay Area weather office wrote.
Trees and power lines were blown down. Windows were blown out from two San Francisco high-rises, NBC Bay Area reported. Ferry service was disrupted because conditions were too rough. Three barges got loose and damaged a bridge.
An Amtrak commuter train carrying 55 passengers struck a downed tree and derailed near the East Bay village of Porta Costa. The train remained upright and nobody was injured, Amtrak and fire officials said.