California storm kills 19, forces evacuations; officials warn of more floods, power cuts

Storm-weary California is bracing for a new round of drenching rains, heavy snowfall and dangerous winds as the death toll from a series of atmospheric rivers reached 19 people, reported Bloomberg.

State officials have warned of additional flooding, landslides and power outages as the soils have already saturated, while the rivers have witnessed record rainfall.

Authorities in northern Californian towns like Carmel and Pebble Beach – major tourist attractions – could disallow access if the water level in the nearby Salinas River swells due to heavy floods.

“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “These storms are amongst the most deadly natural disasters in the modern history of our state,” she added.

The Salinas River reportedly rose to dangerous levels on Friday morning and prompted authorities to evacuate around 24,000 people.

Farmers worked feverishly to erect berms to protect their fields in the part of Monterey County just off California’s central coast, while residents lay sandbags or sought to leave before rising water cut access to their homes, reported news agency Reuters.

The National Weather Service has predicted that two more storms could sweep California and the Pacific Northwest. As per the record, seven such weather systems have hit the state in the past two weeks.

According to PowerOutage.us, more than 220,000 homes and businesses continued to suffer power cuts last week after the flood swamped the state.

Bad weather disrupted road travel with flash floods and rock slides and have wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of Californians.

The heavy rains have eased California’s historic drought but not ended it, the U.S. Drought Monitor showed. The state is no longer considered to be in extreme drought or exceptional drought, the two worst categories, but much of the state is still considered to be experiencing moderate or severe drought conditions, reported Reuters.