Newsom signs executive order to support communities impacted by winter storms

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an executive order to further bolster the emergency response to severe winter storms and support impacted communities across the state. In the past week, California has secured a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration and a Presidential Emergency Declaration to assist response and recovery efforts to the storms, which have resulted in at least 20 fatalities and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. With lingering storms expected through midweek, the state continues to work with local and federal partners to prepare for and respond to flooding, debris flow and other storm-related emergencies.

This week’s executive order includes provisions that help ensure adequate staffing for the emergency response by waiving work hour limitations for retired annuitants; support impacted residents by waiving fees to replace records such as marriage and birth certificates; and provide flexibility to help health care facilities in impacted areas remain open and support schools in Merced County impacted by flooding.

In recent weeks, Newsom has met with evacuated residents in Merced County, assisted storm preparedness work in Santa Barbara County and surveyed storm damage in Santa Cruz County and Sacramento County with state and local officials. The Governor has activated the State Operations Center to its highest level and proclaimed a state of emergency statewide.

After Monday’s rains — part of the ninth atmospheric river to swamp California since Christmas — the state is forecast to have a chance to dry out this week.

But death and destruction has already come — at least 20 lives lost (with only extreme rescue efforts preventing more) and what could add up to $1 billion or more in damage to property, roads and other infrastructure.

• The major disaster declaration approved by the White House late Saturday provides grants and loans for temporary housing and home repairs to residents flooded in Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties, plus public assistance to local governments for emergency response, recovery costs and hazard mitigation. The list of eligible counties could grow. To check if you live in one of the impacted areas, and apply for assistance, go here or call 1 (800) 6213362.

• An earlier emergency declaration by the White House authorizes federal agencies to coordinate and provide funding and equipment for relief efforts. So far, it covers 31 counties.

• Californians will also get some tax relief: Both the state Franchise Tax Board and Internal Revenue Service extended the deadline for individuals and businesses in impacted counties to file tax returns from April 18 to May 15, and also announced that residents in impacted areas could claim a disaster tax credit. With damages statewide already estimated at upwards of $1 billion, it would be the first billion-dollar disaster of 2023, a stat tracked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In 2022, there were 18 such disasters in the U.S. — the third most since 1980 — including hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and droughts (the latter two covering California) totaling $165 billion in damage and 474 deaths.

Yet, even with a year’s worth of rain in a few weeks in some places, the storms aren’t expected to end California’s drought. But two reservoirs in California are employing a new technique — forecastinformed operations — that could reshape how water is stored across the West, Capital Public Radio reports.

The state has also fasttracked a pilot project to capture more flood waters for underground storage. It allows multiple landowners to divert excess water from Mariposa creek near the City of Merced to recharge a key groundwater basin.

• The California Department of Water Resources on the Merced Project permit: It is “expected to pave the way for future projects to allow water from wet-weather storms to be captured and diverted.”

But the state’s longstanding challenges remain. 94% of the water that has flowed since New Year’s Eve through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has continued straight to the Pacific Ocean due to environmental protections for the endangered Delta smelt, the Mercury News reports.

• Jim Houston, administrator of the California Farm Bureau Federation: “It’s like winning the lottery and blowing it all in Vegas. You have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.”