About forty million residents of the state were forced to contend with floods, storms, and strong winds, in addition to heavy rain on Monday. A state of emergency was declared in eight regions with a population of twenty million people, and electricity was cut off for more than half a million people. There have been no deaths so far.
The state is subject to the so-called “Pineapple Express Storm,” a weather system that regularly hits the West Coast of the United States. Also known as an “atmospheric river,” this storm is developing in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and heading toward land where large amounts of rain and snow will fall.
About the author
Stephen Ramdary has been a foreign editor for more than twenty years De Volkskrant With defense as a major specialization.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) on Sunday reported “one of the most dramatic weather days in recent history.” According to scientists, rainfall due to the storm is increasing due to climate change, among other things. Global warming would cause 10 to 40 percent additional rainfall on atmospheric rivers.
Homeless people
Downtown Los Angeles, where residents were affected by flooded streets and homes, was among the worst affected areas. Heavy rain has not fallen here since 1927. Many homeless people were particularly hard hit by the storm. Rain has been falling continuously in Los Angeles since Sunday afternoon. Some cities in Southern California should expect two days of continuous rain.
Heavy rain fell on the area surrounding the elegant Bel Air neighborhood, reaching about 25 centimetres. The storm, with winds of about sixty miles, is expected to move south toward San Diego on Monday. The National Weather Service warned residents of the Hollywood Hills, the neighborhood known for its famous Hollywood letters, of “landslides and life-threatening floods.”
I warned them not to go out into the streets. Here, residents of many of the capital's homes were at risk of becoming victims of the storm. In Santa Barbara, about sixty miles from downtown Los Angeles, the river that runs through the city is in danger of flooding after about six inches of rain fell.
Other parts of California saw heavy snowfall. A ski resort northeast of San Francisco was expecting nearly two feet of snow. This is the second time in a short period that California has been exposed to such a severe storm.
