Powerful storm threatens California with more flooding
Rain lashed the Bay Area early Wednesday as Californians braced for another powerful storm, which forecasters said would bring more flooding, landslides and damaging winds just days after another “atmospheric river” drenched the West Coast, The New York Times reports.
Usually, rainfall amounts like those expected over the next couple of days would not have a significant impact. But the rain over the weekend left the ground across much of California saturated, like a wet sponge, forecasters said, making the state more susceptible to flooding and rapid runoff. Storm preparations were in full swing across the state. The California National Guard was installing flood dams and sandbags in Sacramento, and several parks across Northern California were closed because of the threat that strong wind gusts would topple trees. The South San Francisco Unified School District said it would cancel classes on Thursday. The new storm is expected to bring up to four inches of rain and winds of up to 40 miles an hour to California’s inland valleys over the next couple of days, and gusts of 60 to 80 m.p.h. in the coastal hills, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow is also expected in the mountains.
