LOS ANGELES (TBEN) — Storm-ravaged California received increased wind, rain and snow on Saturday, sparking flooding concerns, causing power outages and making travel dangerous.
Gusty rains began in the north and spread south, with more storms expected early next week, the National Weather Service said.
More than 68,000 utility customers were without electricity Saturday morning, a number that had dropped by more than half by the afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.
Flood warnings were issued for the region north of San Francisco Bay, including Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
In the south, warnings were posted for parts of counties, including San Mateo and Santa Cruz, where the small community of Felton Grove was being evacuated along the San Lorenzo River.
The swollen Salinas River inundated farmland in Monterey County, and flood warnings were in effect to the east for Merced County in the agricultural Central Valley, where Governor Gavin Newsom visited to record the storm’s problems.
“The reality is that this is only the eighth of what we expect nine atmospheric rivers to be — we’re not done yet,” Newsom said at a briefing with local leaders, where he urged people to be vigilant about safety for the next 24 hours. 48 hours.
“This is happening all over California, but I want to say … you guys are taking the brunt of it disproportionately, and if you feel that way, you’re right,” Newsom said.
Slippery roads, snow and white conditions plagued the highways through the Sierra Nevada.
The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab tweeted Saturday morning that it received 21.3 inches (54 centimeters) of snow in 24 hours and that the snowpack of about 10 feet (3 meters) was expected to grow several more feet by Monday.
An avalanche warning has been issued for the central Sierra, including the greater Lake Tahoe area.
A series of atmospheric rivers have been dumping rain and snow across California since late December, cutting thousands of power, inundating roads, releasing debris flows and triggering landslides.
There have been at least 19 deaths from storms and a 5-year-old boy remained missing after being swept from his mother’s car by flooding in San Luis Obispo County.
Half of the deaths involved motorists, and some could have been avoided if drivers had heeded the road signs, Sean Duryee, acting commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, said at a briefing by state and federal officials on Friday.
In Santa Barbara County, where a massive debris flow through the community of Montecito killed 23 people on Jan. 9, 2018, residents were told no new evacuations were expected but to be prepared.
Montecito and adjacent areas were last evacuated last Monday, the fifth anniversary of what is locally remembered as the “1/9 Debris Flow.” But the community that sat on the foothills of the coastal mountains escaped serious damage.
During a visit to Montecito on Friday, Newsom asked residents to exercise caution and heed warnings from public safety officials.
“I know how tired you all are,” Newsom said. “Just maintain a little more vigilance over the course of the next weekend.”
As of Tuesday, there are dry days in the California forecast for next week.
“The question then is: will we stay dry until the end of the month?” wrote the San Francisco Bay Area Weather Bureau.
TBEN reporter Janie Har contributed from San Francisco. TBEN/Report for America writer Sophie Austin contributed from Mather, California.
