Heavy rains still hit California on Tuesday, January 10, where successive storms have already killed 16 people and prompted authorities to order the evacuation of many regions, including the wealthy town of Montecito, residence of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. .
The torrential rains of the last two days on soils already saturated with water have caused vast power cuts, numerous floods, uprooted many trees and cut off major roads, the floods sometimes carrying motorists.
Repeated storms sweeping through the western US state have killed 16 Californians in recent weeks, "more than the wildfires of the past two years," Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a statement. .
"Several days of bad winter weather are still ahead of us," added the governor, asking his fellow citizens to be "hyper vigilant".
Five-year-old boy missing
In Paso Robles, a small town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a 5-year-old boy was swept away Monday and remained missing, according to a statement from the sheriff.
The flood had trapped the car he was in with his mother, who was rescued by a neighbour.
The authorities had to suspend their search in the afternoon on Monday because of the weather.
In Bakersfield, in the center of the state, two motorists died after a tree fell on the road, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tuesday around 22:30 GMT, around 150,000 homes were without electricity, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.
"Endless Assault"
According to the weather services (NWS), after a short respite on Tuesday evening, a new storm is expected to hit California on Wednesday, with up to 18 centimeters of rain expected in the north of the state.
California is currently experiencing "an endless onslaught of atmospheric rivers," the likes of which have not been seen since 2005, according to the NWS.
These "rivers of the sky", which are formed by water vapor from the tropics and travel to then pour down waterspouts on the west coast of the United States, are rarely so frequent.
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of Montecito, a coastal town north of Los Angeles and a haunt of celebrities.
This enclave, where actress Jennifer Aniston and TV presenter Oprah Winfrey own luxurious villas, is a microcosm of the extremes to which drought-hit California has been subjected for two decades.
Five years ago, a massive fire devastated the mountains surrounding Montecito.
As a result, the absence of vegetation makes it very vulnerable to landslides.
In January 2018, mudslides caused by heavy rains killed 23 people.
On the spot, roadblocks had been erected by the police to prevent anyone from entering the city where several roads were completely flooded, noted an AFP journalist.
On Monday, TV host Ellen DeGeneres, who also lives in the city, posted a video on Twitter showing a torrent of muddy water.
"It's crazy," she said alarmed.
"That creek next to our house absolutely never flows."
Montecito is under mandatory evacuation.
We are on higher ground so they asked us to shelter in place.
Please stay safe everyone.
pic.twitter.com/7dv5wfNSzG
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) January 9, 2023
Climate change
The area was not the only one to be evacuated.
In Santa Cruz County near San Francisco, where a pier was destroyed last week, more than 30,000 residents are also affected by an evacuation order.
While it is difficult to establish a direct link between these series of storms and climate change, scientists regularly explain that warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
Last week's storm had already knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, caused heavy flooding and triggered landslides.
It had come just days after another deluge of rain on New Year's Eve.
The exceptional rains of the last few days have already exceeded the average annual rainfall in several regions.
However, they will not be enough to replenish the water reserves in California.
Several winters of above-normal rainfall would be needed to compensate for the drought of recent years, experts say.
With AFP
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