bAt least three people died in the severe storm in the US state of California. People were killed by falling trees in Santa Cruz and Yuba counties as well as in the Californian capital Sacramento, authorities said on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power in the state on the US West Coast.
The storm with strong winds and massive rainfall has had large parts of California under control since the weekend. The storm led to flooding, flash floods and landslides. Trees were uprooted, houses damaged and cars destroyed. In some cases, more rain fell in one day than usual in months; in the greater Los Angeles area, more than 25 centimeters of rain was measured within 24 hours. Heavy rain was expected in southern California until Tuesday.
National Weather Service calls it “the most violent storm of the season”
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for a number of counties due to the storm. He warned of a “serious storm with dangerous and potentially life-threatening impacts.” The mayor of Los Angles, Karen Bass, called on residents of the city of over a million people to only leave the house in urgent emergencies.
The National Weather Service (NWS) called it “the most severe storm of the season” with the risk of “dangerous flooding, massive snowfall, wind gusts, coastal flooding and high surf.” The storm also caused disruptions to air traffic.
The reason for the storm is a weather phenomenon known as the “Pineapple Express,” which brings large amounts of moist air from the Pacific from the Hawaii region to California. In the summer, the western United States experienced an extreme heat wave with record temperatures. The following winter has been unusually wet so far. According to experts, global warming is causing extreme weather phenomena to occur more and more frequently.
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