California has been declared a state of emergency by US President Joe Biden, as winter storms continue to batter the country’s most populous state.
Washington: US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in California as winter storms continue to batter the country’s most populous state.
According to a White House statement released late Monday, Biden has ordered federal assistance to supplement California, tribal, and local response efforts due to emergency conditions caused by successive and severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides, reports Xinhua news agency.
The declaration of a federal emergency will allow the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
Due to the severe winter storms, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the entire state, which is home to approximately 40 million people, on January 4.
On Sunday, he asked the White House for a presidential emergency declaration to help with the state’s ongoing storm response and recovery efforts.
According to a statement released by the governor’s office, 12 people have died from storm-related impacts, including flooding, since late December, more than the number of civilians killed by wildfires in the previous two years combined.
“We are in the midst of a deadly barrage of winter storms — and California is using every resource available to protect lives and limit damage,” Newsom said in a statement.
“We take the threat posed by these storms seriously and want to ensure that Californians remain vigilant as more storms approach,” the Governor added.
Winter storms continued to dump heavy rains on California, causing flooding, road closures, and power outages in many areas.
“California is expecting a stronger and more widespread atmospheric river that will bring strong winds, heavy rain, and thunderstorms,” the Governor’s office tweeted on Monday, adding that “this is serious — stay safe, make the necessary preparations, and limit non-essential travel”.
According to PowerOutage.us, a website that collects live power outage data from utilities across the country, nearly 100,000 homes and businesses in California were still without power as of Monday.
Tens of thousands of people in Northern California were still without power on Monday, as heavy rain and strong winds caused problems on the roads but spared the region from widespread devastation, according to KCRA-TV, a television station in Sacramento, the state capital.
Many school districts throughout the region, as well as some individual schools, have cancelled classes for Monday, according to the news outlet.
The recent very wet weather pattern that has been plaguing much of California is not expected to abate, and the ongoing heavy rains Monday afternoon across central California will be dropping into Southern California Monday night into early Tuesday, according to the US Weather Service.
Weather Service National (NWS).
The NWS reported that rainfall totals in nearly all of California have been 400-600 percent above average over the last several weeks.
“This has resulted in nearly saturated soils and increasingly high river levels. Additional heavy rains on Tuesday will exacerbate existing flooding and increase the risk of flash flooding and mudslides, particularly in burn scar areas.
“Dangerous life-threatening flash flooding across southern Santa Barbara county and central Ventura county through this evening as additional heavy rain moves into the area. “Follow emergency officials’ orders,” the NWS tweeted on Monday afternoon.
On Monday, tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate Montecito, California.
All residents in the community in Santa Barbara County were urged to “leave now” by local officials as “the heaviest rain is yet to come this afternoon and evening”.
In January 2018, a massive mudslide caused by heavy rains swept through the coastal community, destroying 130 homes and killing 23 people.
