New Storms Hitting California, Facing Already 'disastrous' Floods

Salinas, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jan, 2023 ) :The latest in a damaging succession of storm systems blew into California on Saturday, bringing heavy flooding to already waterlogged regions and threatening snowfalls of up to six feet (two meters) in areas.

The latest system was expected to bring "heavy lower-elevation rain, significant mountain snow, and strong winds," with "another surge of Pacific moisture" expected Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

It predicted "disastrous flooding" across the lower Salinas River valley, an important agricultural region south of San Francisco Bay.

An eyewitness saw the Salinas River overtopping its banks in many spots, at times covering farm fields for hundreds of yards (meters) even as rain continued under leaden skies.

The storms of recent weeks were originally welcomed -- coming after years of drought -- but by now have brought "disastrous" flooding, officials say.

Around 2030 GMT, there were 36,000 homes without power, according to the power outage.

At least 19 people are known to have died from storm-related causes.

"This place was hit hard by the drought over the past years," 58-year-old farmworker Manuel Paris told AFP near Salinas. "We're not used to this much rain anymore."The NWS said an additional two to three inches of rain (5.0 to 7.5 centimeters) could cause new flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Sierra Nevada seeing three to six feet of snow, and heavy winds buffeting central and coastal California at up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph).