The California floods are expected to worsen throughout Wednesday after a second storm hit the West Coast. Thousands of people in Northern California have evacuated their homes due to the storm and continuous heavy rains.
California: Flooding and mudslides strand drivers following storm
The storm struck the Northern and Central California over the weekend and has resulted in many rivers to overflow causing floods. The rivers, which have crossed the flooding stage, include Middle Fork Feather, Eel, Russian, Navarro, and Sacramento. Wind-blown snow drifts on Tuesday piled up several feet high in the mountains in California and Nevada.
The National Weather Service also issued a blizzard warning for ski resort communities in the greater Lake Tahoe region, including the towns of Truckee and South Lake Tahoe, California, and neighboured Nevada enclaves of Stateline and Incline Village. According to the Weather Service reports, snow accumulations of around 5 to 10 feet were forecast above elevations of 7,000 feet, with fierce wind gusts reaching 160 km per hour along the ridge of the Sierra Nevada mountain range on Wednesday.
"This is a life-threatening situation. Even a short walk could be deadly if you become disoriente," the weather agency warned in a bulletin. The agency also asked all the travellers in the state to remain indoors.
Along with the blizzard warning, an avalanche warning has also been issued for the nearby mountainous regions. Spokesperson of Water Resources Department Lauren Hersh said that a string of floodgates were opened on the Sacramento River for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday to divert the accumulated high water around the city into a drainage channel, Reuters reported.
Heavy rains over the weekend and on Monday forced evacuation of around 3,000 people to the higher ground in California's Russian River valley. Reports state that around 400 homes were also evacuated in Reno as the Truckee River flooded its banks in the area.
Highlighting the positive side of the incident, another Water Resources Department spokesperson Ted Thomas said that the storms have replenished many reservoirs in the region, which were left low by five years of drought. "The wet start of winter makes us cautiously optimistic that drought conditions will be alleviate," he added.
