PARARO: During the overnight hours on Saturday, another severe storm swept across California, displacing thousands, causing a levee to break in coastal Monterey County, and At least two lives were lost.
Luis Alejo, a Monterey County supervisor, said on Twitter on Saturday, “We were hoping to avoid and prevent this situation, but the worst has happened in the middle of the night with the overtopping of the Pajaro River and breaching of the levee. “
On Friday, state emergency services director Nancy Ward announced that the storm had already claimed at least two lives.
Photos posted on Twitter by the state’s National Guard account showed guards rescuing residents trapped in their cars in high water.
At least one road washed out in Santa Cruz County, just north of Monterey.
Residents of several towns, mostly in the north, have been ordered to evacuate.
An unusually intense and seemingly endless series of storms has gripped California for weeks.
The latest storm was expected to dump as much as nine inches (23 cm) of rain on already saturated ground.
Part of a powerful atmospheric river known as the “Pineapple Express” — for the warm, subtropical moisture it brings from Hawaii — this latest storm will accelerate the rate of snowmelt in the high elevations. is made
The resulting flash floods are already at risk of serious flooding.
US President Joe Biden on Friday approved an emergency declaration, clearing the way for an acceleration of federal aid to the western state.
Governor Gavin Newsom said California is “deploying every tool at our disposal to protect communities from the relentless and deadly storms that continue to ravage our state.”
Storms in January were blamed for the loss of 20 lives.
