CNN
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More than 15 million people from California to Wisconsin are under a winter weather warning Sunday as a Pacific storm system pushes record rain and severe flooding eastward.
Epic flooding and power outages led to highway closures and water rescues Saturday for some residents in Northern California.
The city of Oakland had its wettest Saturday on record with 4.75 inches of rain in 24 hours — breaking the previous record set on Jan. 4, 1982, according to the National Weather Service office in San Francisco.
Severe weather a Powerful atmospheric river – A long, narrow region in the atmosphere that can carry moisture thousands of miles, like a fire hose across the sky.
Now, as the same storm system moves east, it could dump a foot of snow across the Sierras and up to 2 feet in parts of the Rockies by late Monday. Local forecasters warn that travel could be difficult.
Severe weather, including high winds, left 235,000 homes, businesses and other electric customers without power in California and Nevada on Sunday. Resistor.U.S.
The storm forced some Northern California residents to evacuate their homes on New Year’s Day.
In addition to urban flooding, several rivers began overflowing — including the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers and Mormon Slough, according to the National Weather Service. Sacramento.
Despite the flooding headache, moisture has been a relief for drought-stricken California — starting in 2022 The driest start to the year has been recorded The year ended with wet roads and thick mountain snow.
But it’s unclear how much the storm will affect California’s drought conditions.
Authorities ordered residents of Wilton, about 20 miles from Sacramento Leave the area immediately at some point on Saturday and be warned that rising water could spill over roads and cut off access to exit the area. About two hours later, Wilton residents were told to take shelter after water made roads “impassable.”
Three communities near the town of Watsonville were also told to evacuate Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Due to creek flooding, residents in the communities of Paradise Park and Felton were evacuated as the San Lorenzo River rose.
In San Ramon, police used an armored recovery vehicle to evacuate residents from floodwaters.
“Flooding risks continue to increase as these rains continue with too many road closures at this time,” the NWS said Saturday. The weather service told residents to stay put amid reports of rock and mudslides in the foothills and road closures across Sierra passes.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews conducted water rescues and responded to drivers whose vehicles were disabled after driving through standing water on Saturday, officials said.
Calling it a “hurricane”. Amador County Sheriff’s Office They shared a picture of cars in flood water up to their door handles.
Highway 50 reopened just after midnight, hours after a section between Pollock Pines and Meyers was closed due to flooding from the American River. Another section of Echo Summit was closed for avalanche control.
“Due to multiple spinouts in Donner Summit, Interstate 80 was partially closed Saturday near the Nevada line,” the California Department of Transportation said.
Sunday morning, I-80 in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains was reopened to passenger vehicles only by the California Highway Patrol in Truckee with “R2 chain restrictions.” He tweeted that. Control is Chains or traction devices Required on all but four-wheel drive vehicles with snow tires on all four wheels.
“The roads are very slick, so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the agency said.
US Highway 101 – one of California’s most popular thoroughfares – was temporarily closed in both directions south of San Francisco, the California Highway Patrol said, “due to persistent rainfall and high tides that have not receded.”
According to a tweet from the National Weather Service in Sacramento, residents were advised to avoid travel in the Sacramento County area due to downed trees and debris-covered roads at 55 mph.
The county declared a state of emergency, saying the raging river had caused “significant traffic impacts, rising creek and river levels and flooding” in the Wilton area.
Downtown San Francisco recorded 5.46 inches on Saturday, making it the area’s second wettest day. National Weather Service in the Gulf Region.
The heavy rain is expected to move toward Southern California on Sunday, bringing with it winds of 30 to 50 mph.
Parts of Northern California have been hit by heavy rains, while mountains are blanketed in snow.
Soda Springs, about 30 miles from Lake Tahoe, reported 7.5 inches of snow per hour between 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. Heavy snow in the area.
More than 30 inches of snow fell on Saturday, according to unofficial measurements, the observatory said.
Mammoth Mountain’s main lodge received more than a foot of fresh snow Saturday, the ski resort said. FacebookHe added that all the lifts are covered in snow and the “avalanche risk is very high” so the work will take place all over the mountain.
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