California Storm Death Toll Reaches 17, Another to Hit This Weekend
Powerful rainstorms hitting California in the past two weeks have killed 17 people, the state’s emergency department reported Jan. 11.
“It’s been a very dangerous and deadly series of events,” Brian Ferguson, deputy director of the Office of Emergency Services, told The Epoch Times.
The victims lived in nine different counties with the number of fatalities reached higher than those killed in the past two wildfire seasons combined, Ferguson said.
Shelters are opened throughout California to serve the 48,000 residents evacuated from their homes. About 40,000 more people were still under evacuation warnings Wednesday, Ferguson added.
Emergency crews continued to search Wednesday for Kyle Doan, a 5-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters Monday near San Miguel, about 130 miles southeast of San Jose. His mother, a local teacher, was rescued by bystanders, according to reports.
Affected regions are still cleaning up overflowing rivers and streams from the last storm. Officials continue to watch for mudslides and debris flowing from saturated ground.
“We are very much not out of the woods yet,” Ferguson said.
In Los Angeles, four people were rescued Monday from a 15-foot sinkhole that collapsed under a flooded roadway in the Chatsworth neighborhood.
Two storms have drenched the state since Dec. 30, causing widespread flooding, road closures, and mass evacuations.
As of Wednesday morning, AccuWeather estimated the economic loss caused by the recent series of storms to be between $31 billion and $34 billion dollars, its Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter told The Epoch Times.
The damages include widespread power outages, major flooding, road closures, numerous landslides and mudslides, many fallen trees, as well as damage to cars, homes, and businesses, especially in developed and populated areas, Porter said. Over 2 million power outages were also reported, he said.
Water damages, he added, are more costly to repair and oftentimes underinsured or not covered by homeowner’s insurance policies.
AccuWeather expects the economic loss to mount as storms continue to march through parts of California through Jan. 18, according to Porter.
Several highways remained closed Wednesday in Southern California. Highway 150 is closed between Ojai and Santa Paul because of debris and mud, and between Ojai and Ventura County near Carpinteria. Highway 33 is also closed north of Ojai at Lockwood Valley Road, the CalTrans reported.
Officials also closed beaches in Ventura County after sewage spilled from a sewer system into Oak View creek, county officials reported. Beaches near the mouth of the Ventura River remain closed.
California State Parks has closed 51 parks and partially closed another 40. Parks will reopen based on safety and weather conditions, but officials were not yet able to provide a timeline.
Santa Cruz County bore the brunt of the storm, which left extensive damages on its road systems, with some buckling and cracking as rain drenched the region, officials reported Wednesday. Several roads remained closed, including sections of State Route 9.
Mendocino County in central California was also hit hard by the storm Monday, with parts of the upscale city of Santa Barbara evacuated. Highway 101, a coastal highway, was closed but reopened Tuesday afternoon.
In Los Angeles, the last storm that struck the area Monday delivered 3.35 inches of rain downtown, Mike Wofford, lead forecaster at National Weather Service and meteorologist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told The Epoch Times.
“Our annual rain total is usually around 15 inches, so that was more than one-fifth of that,” Wofford said.
Southern California was drying off Wednesday as the region braced for a slightly weaker storm that was expected to hit this Saturday.
“This next one will have considerably less impact in terms of rain amounts,” Wofford said. “It will be more along the lines of around an inch of rain for the [Los Angeles] area.”
It is also expected to bring snow to the upper elevations near 6,000 feet, reaching some ski resorts at Big Bear and Mountain High. Highway 5 at the Grapevine shouldn’t see any impacts, though, he added.
Though bringing less rain, it could pose flooding risks because much of the region is still recovering from the last storm. NOAA doesn’t anticipate issuing storm warnings for the next system.
“Our message to Californians is simple: be hyper-vigilant,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Jan. 9. “There are still several days of severe winter weather ahead and we need all Californians to be alert and heed the advice of emergency officials.”
President Joe Biden approved the governor’s request for a federal emergency declaration Monday, activating federal support for storm response and recovery efforts.
