After more storms: Biden declares a state of emergency in California

Status: 01/15/2023 07:27 AM

After more heavy rains, US President Biden declared a state of emergency in California. The US state has been hit by powerful storms since Christmas, with about 26 million people affected by the floods.

The storms were the latest in a series of storms since Christmas that slammed into an already hard-hit area of ​​California on Saturday, dumping heavy rain and causing flooding. Fields and roads were flooded in many places, and power lines were damaged.

US President Joe Biden then declared a state of emergency in California late Saturday night (local time) and directed federal funds to support people in particularly hard-hit Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties.

About 26 million people were affected

As of Saturday afternoon, about 20,000 homes were still without power, according to the poweroutage.us website. “We’re not done yet,” Gavin Newsom, the governor of the US state, warned after visiting those affected. He warned of “vigilance”.

Nearly 26 million Californians are still affected by flood warnings, according to the National Weather Service NWS. Tens of thousands of people have been asked to leave their homes.

In the mountains, continued rains have brought large amounts of snow, according to the authorities, there is a risk of avalanches.

Heavy rains after years of drought

According to the US government, at least 19 people have died in floods, power outages, mudslides and landslides since December 26 in drought-plagued California.

A new weather encounter with heavy rain, snow and wind on the coast on Saturday. In some areas, 50 percent of the average amount of precipitation for an entire year has been recorded in just a few days.

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