{"id":62542,"date":"2024-02-04T13:11:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T21:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=62542"},"modified":"2024-02-04T13:11:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T21:11:08","slug":"california-prepares-for-strongest-winter-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=62542","title":{"rendered":"California Prepares for Strongest Winter Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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36 million Californians are bracing for potentially life-threatening floods from a weekend atmospheric river.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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36 million Californians from the southern border through Sonoma County are bracing for potentially life-threatening floods from a weekend atmospheric river.<\/p>\n

The forecast<\/h2>\n

The season\u2019s strongest storm is expected to bring heavy rain, snow and wind from the evening of Saturday, February 3 through at least Tuesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Schoening at an emergency response briefing held by the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) on Saturday.<\/p>\n

While these two early-February storms differ from last year\u2019s season, which brought months of atmospheric rivers, \u201cthis individual storm has the potential for very significant impacts,\u201d he added. \u201cThis storm could have just as big \u2014 if not bigger \u2014 impacts than any individual storm from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Bay Area and Central Valley will feel early impacts through Sunday, the heaviest flooding is expected across the central and southern coast \u2014 including Los Angeles and San Diego \u2014 from Sunday through Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In Southern California, which is most at risk of\u00a0life-threatening<\/a>\u00a0flooding, an average of three to seven inches of rain are expected along the coast and in the valleys, and six to 12 inches are expected in the mountains, but some regions may get as much as 15 inches.<\/p>\n

State responses<\/h2>\n

Storm floods \u201care the most dangerous natural disasters that we have,\u201d said CalOES Director Nancy Ward, killing more Californians annually than even wildfires and earthquakes do.<\/p>\n

In response, she continued, Gov. Newsom\u2019s office \u201chas mobilized the full weight of the state government\u201d by extending the CalOES emergency operation center to 24 hours a day; putting over \u201c8,500 boots on the ground through CalOES, CHP, CalFire, Caltrans, the Conservation Corps and the National Guard\u201d; having over 7 million sandbags ready alongside sheltering and basic needs supplies for nearly 40,000 people; and readying high water rescue teams and equipment.<\/p>\n

As of Saturday, Ward said CalOES has also launched a phone bank to contact nearly two million people in California\u2019s most disaster-prone areas with emergency warning and evacuation guidance in English, Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Mandarin.<\/p>\n

Those most disproportionately vulnerable to disasters \u2014 and thus prioritized by the phone initiative \u2014 also include \u201cindividuals who may be older, may have disabilities or may speak English as a second language,\u201d said California Department of Social Services Director Kim Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no administration anywhere else in the country that\u2019s invested the way the Newsom administration has invested in protecting vulnerable populations,\u201d said Brian Ferguson, CalOES Deputy Director of Crisis Communications. \u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s come directly out of the Camp Fire and something that we think about every single day, keeping the most at-risk members of our community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major General Matt Beevers from the California Force of the National Guard said the guard was at the ready to respond to any crises that may occur, with resources including high water vehicles; engineering; aviation; and general-purpose aid like filling\u00a0 sandbags.<\/p>\n

Flooding<\/h2>\n

Karla Namath, director of the Department of Water Resources, said those living near rivers were particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Five rivers statewide are expected to flood during the atmospheric river: the Russian River in Mendocino County; the Carmel River in Monterey County; the Guadalupe River in Santa Clara County; the Ventura River in Ventura County; and the San Diego River in San Diego County.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s flood operation center will be active 24 hours a day throughout the storm as workers have already distributed nearly five million sandbags statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s different this year from last year is that we have full reservoirs, which have already started releasing flood water to make space for inflows,\u201d Namath added.<\/p>\n

CalFIRE Chief Deputy Director Anale Burlew said emergency preparation for this week\u2019s storm coincides with emergency recovery from last week\u2019s. Many swift water teams were deployed to rescue people from vehicles trapped in water, including two individuals in San Diego \u2014 \u201cand I bring this up as a reminder to not drive vehicles through roadways with moving or still water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember \u2014 six inches of water can down an adult, 12 inches can sweep away your vehicle and two feet of water can move an SUV or a truck,\u201d added Ward.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease postpone any non-essential travel until after the storm passes,\u201d said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. \u201cHowever, if you must travel, please slow down, allow additional time to get to your destination and check our real-time road condition\u00a0updates<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCaltrans has activated all of our emergency operations centers from Eureka down to San Diego, and we have over 4,000 people working around the clock with over 1,200 pieces of equipment to address situations like flooding, muddy rock debris, slides, and snow removal,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

What can Californians do?<\/h2>\n

As the storm comes, how can Californians keep themselves safe?<\/p>\n

Stay informed by signing up for emergency alerts at\u00a0calalerts.org<\/a>; check emergency updates through the\u00a0CalOES<\/a>\u00a0website and social media; avoid non-essential travel and prepare for power outages during very high winds; don\u2019t drive through flooded roadways; and follow any local evacuation notices.<\/p>\n

The good news is that after Tuesday, rain will significantly lessen and no flood risks are currently expected mid-week onward, said Schoening. \u201cBetter news: It looks like we\u2019ll have a break in storm activity through much of the middle of February,\u201d with drier-than-usual conditions statewide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySelen Ozturk Feb 4, 2024 36...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62543,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62542\/revisions\/62543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}