A deadly storm that lashed coastal California with hurricane-force winds and torrential rain is far from over.
Weather conditions deteriorated overnight across much of the state as the storm, one of several that is expected to pound the West Coast this month, moved onshore from the Pacific Ocean.
In Sonoma County, a child – about age 1 or 2 – was killed Wednesday when a redwood tree fell on a home, Occidental Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Lunardi said, according to CNN News.
Today, San Francisco is one of numerous cities bracing for more havoc after a night of weather-related damage. Shortly before dawn on Thursday, the National Weather Service issued flash flood watches and winter storm warnings across large swaths of the state, and about one million residents were under high wind warnings.
The Associated Press is reporting that over 180,000 customers are without power in the San Francisco Bay area and along the coast. The storm is expected to dump up to 6 inches (152.4 millimeters) of rain in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area where most of the region including Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are expected to bear the brunt of heavy flooding.
Up to three inches of rain fell overnight around Northern California and about an inch and a half in Sacramento, Johnnie Powell, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Sacramento, said Thursday morning, reports the New York Times. Winds peaked at around 60 miles per hour in Redding and at about 50 m.p.h. in the Sacramento region, he said.
“We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years,” said Nancy Ward, the new director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said at a news conference that the city was “preparing for a war.” Crews cleared clogged storm drains, tried to move homeless people into shelters, and passed out emergency supplies and ponchos to those who refused to go.
On Wednesday evening, the winds gusted to 119 mph in Kirkwood Meadows, which is a town located about 78 miles east of Sacramento. Wind speeds gusted over 100 mph near Lake Tahoe, which is just north of Kirkwood Meadows, reports AccuWeather.
The storm is part of a series of atmospheric rivers — channels of moisture from the tropical Pacific Ocean. Further rounds of heavy precipitation are expected to hit California on Saturday and again on Monday. This particular storm is being described as a “bomb cyclone,” with its hurricane-force winds.
