California has no time to breathe.

Already devastated by successive storms that have killed at least 17 people, the American state that usually makes people dream will once again find itself under water.

Meteorological services have warned of the arrival of a major cyclone this Wednesday.

It could bring up to 18 centimeters of rain, as tens of thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate.

The expected new storm will hit northern California and is expected to bring heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS).

California is currently undergoing "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 form with water vapor from the tropics and travel to then pour waterspouts down the West Coast of the United States, are rarely so common.

Storms until January 18

"A huge spinning cyclone off the West Coast will again bring heavy rainfall and gusty winds (Wednesday), this time targeting Northern California," the NWS wrote in its latest advisory.

The bad weather will not remain limited to California as the system responsible for Tuesday's rains continues its path across the country and is expected to bring thunderstorms to the central and southern regions, the NWS adds.



According to California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, at least 34,000 people have been asked to flee their homes.

“We are not at the end of our troubles.

We expect the storms to continue at least through January 18,” the governor told reporters.

“So far, we have 17 confirmed deaths.

I emphasize this tragically because only these deaths are confirmed.

These deaths represent "more than the forest fires of the last two years", he insisted.

Other regions have been the subject of evacuation orders from the authorities, such as in Santa Cruz County, near San Francisco, where a pier was destroyed last week.

Some 66,000 homes and businesses without electricity

The torrential rains of the previous days on soils already saturated with water caused vast power cuts, numerous floods, uprooted many trees and cut off major roads, the floods sometimes carrying motorists.

Some 66,000 homes and businesses in the most populous state in the United States were without electricity Wednesday morning, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.us.

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.

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