On Wednesday, a massive cyclone whirling off the coast of California was dumping rain, posing a threat of additional landslides and floods in the already flooded state.
On Wednesday, a massive cyclone whirling off the coast of California was dumping rain, posing a threat of additional landslides and floods in the already flooded state.

The series of storms that have swept through the western United States have claimed the lives of at least 18 people and brought rainfall levels to some areas that have not been seen in 150 years.

As a never-ending downpour batters the Golden State, homes have been washed away, power lines have fallen, and rockslides have blocked roads.
A flood watch or winter weather advisory was in effect for a portion of northern California on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service issued a warning, noting that “the heaviest rains are expected to impact northwestern California through the next couple of days with a few inches of rain possible.”

That rain will follow weeks of downpours that have saturated the earth, threatening to collapse hillsides and bursting rivers.

After being inundated, people in the town of Aptos near Santa Cruz were picking up the pieces.

Doug Spinelli told AFP, “It’s probably the worst flood that I’ve seen here since I’ve lived here, since 1984.”

“Aptos Creek was gushing down so violently that I thought it was going to tear up our small pedestrian walkway. Tree trunks were being pushed down the river almost at the rate of one every thirty seconds,” I said.

“It was amazing to see how much timber and debris was flowing down the creek,” the witness said.

On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom paid a visit to Capitola, which had been hit hard by the weather. He said that even minor downpours could be a problem because of the seemingly endless stream of storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean.

He stated to reporters, “The number of inches of rain and the intensity doesn’t tell the whole story.”

“We’re wet, and this place is wet.” Additionally, even relatively insignificant amounts of precipitation could have a comparable or even greater impact on the conditions on the ground.

“We will search until we find him” On Wednesday, the tracking website Poweroutage.us reported that more than 55,000 homes and businesses in California were without power, and there were tragedies all over the state.

On Wednesday, a five-year-old boy who vanished in San Luis Obispo’s flood waters remained missing.

On Monday morning, Lindsay Doan was driving her son Kyle to school when the family car was submerged by floodwaters.

She was able to get out of the car, but she was unable to open Kyle’s door.

He was composed. According to the Los Angeles Times, the boy’s father, Brian Doan, stated, “He was trying to say, ‘Stay calm, Mom.'” She was giving it her all.

They were separated by the current when she finally got him out of the car.

She was rescued from the water by neighbors, but Kyle had been swept down the creek.

Brian Doan stated, “My wife feels very terrible surviving this and not him.”

When she got him out of the car, she was right. I was informed by San Miguel Fire that they observed that the car had moved and had been upside-down in the creek.

According to the Sheriff of San Luis Obispo County, they were still looking for the child, including using underwater teams.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune was informed by spokesman Tony Cipolla, “We will search until we find him.”

Fatalities According to a tally compiled by the LA Times, among the state’s 18 confirmed dead are drivers whose vehicles were discovered submerged, individuals who were struck by falling trees, a husband and wife who were killed in a rockfall, and individuals whose bodies were discovered in floodwaters.

In California, which typically receives the majority of its annual precipitation in a relatively short period of time, winter storms are not uncommon.

However, the current systems are vicious, bringing more rain to San Francisco in two weeks than ever before since 1866.

According to scientists, human-caused global warming is making weather events more extreme, with wetter and drier periods during the dry seasons.

Despite the misery, the storms are bringing rain to a region of the country that desperately needs it after more than two decades of drought. They are expected to continue to rake California for another week.

However, even the falling volumes of water are insufficient to replenish depleted reservoirs and aquifers.

According to data provided by the water resources department, Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in the state, is still only two-thirds of its historical average for the beginning of January.