By Morgan Kacalek
As intense storms bringing an abundance of wind and rain move across California, cities further south like Los Angeles and Santa Barbara have experienced an increase in power outages and floods. This large amount of rain has raised concern of flash floods, while several cities have already issued flash flood warnings.
According to AP News, “The storm fueled by the second of back-to-back atmospheric rivers to hit California in days came ashore last weekend in the State’s north before it moved down the coast and parked itself over the south for days.” Sadly, these atmospheric rivers have led to tragedy. Officials report that at least nine people have been killed so far from the reported 400 falling trees and violent mudslides. One family living in Los Angeles, Jesus Barron and his wife, reported a mudslide that crashed through the retaining wall on the side of their house and into their bedroom. Walls are, “not enough to stop mother nature,” said Barron. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass even explains, “Our hillsides are already saturated. So even not-very-heavy rains could still lead to additional mudslides.”
Californians are forced to be cautious because these storms bring deadly, high winds that have already cost the life of a man up north in Yuba City. The man, who remains unidentified, was killed by a redwood tree that fell when winds hit speeds of almost 50 mph. Cities like San Diego and San Luis Obispo even had to issue a tornado warning, a rarity for California. Fortunately, the warning was quickly canceled on the confirmation from forecasters that the winds no longer posed a threat of a twister.
It seems that perhaps California is in for another season of extreme rain for days on end like we saw last year. In 2023, California experienced similar periods of heavy rainfall from early February to late March. After being in a drought for close to 10 years, California was declared officially out of the drought on October 31, 2023. But now it looks like Californians are in for another spring of heavy rainfall that brings more than just an end to drought, bringing along death and destruction, as well.
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