California is struggling between two storms

Many homes and vehicles have been inundated in California after the Pajaro River overflowed and breached a dam.

By Le Figaro with AFP

published On 03/13/2023 at 22:23to update On 03/13/2023 at 22:23

California Monday’s struggle between two storms: repairing a dam that broke due to large floods that caused the evacuation of thousands of people, but a new storm was announced in this western American state. Houses were flooded and vehicles were submerged after the Pajaro River overflowed, causing a breach in a dam during the night from Friday to Saturday. Then the firefighters went door to door to wake up and evacuate the residents.

“Giant atmospheric river”

But by Monday morning, the breach had expanded further to about 100 yards wide, according to officials in Monterey County, south of San Francisco. Emergency repair work is underway to stabilize it., according to the governorate, which did not specify at the present time any dead or injured in the area. More than 10,000 people across the county have been called to leave their homes, and the Salinas River is also expected to flood in the coming days. California, the most populous state, experiences a particularly rainy winter. In January in particular, a series of storms caused multiple floods, landslides, and downed trees, killing 20 people.

The current storm, like most others this season, is fueled by B.J atmospheric river, A huge rain corridor that transports water vapor stored in the tropics, often around Hawaii. If the intensity of the rains gradually decreases, it may fall again on the region on Monday and Tuesday evening, with approximately 5 centimeters expected on the already saturated soil, thus causing new floods. According to Brooke Bingaman, of the US Weather Service (NWS) in the area, the risks of more flooding are very real. “It is very important that you leave the areas that need to be affected.”she urged in a video posted to Twitter.

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“Remember that it is better to spend the night in a strange place than to wake up at home to high water or to realize that you are isolated because the roads around you are cut off.”she insisted. In the surrounding mountains, near-record snowfall has been recorded in recent months, resulting in massive snow accumulations. Fresh rains, from a rather warm depression, could melt part of this exceptional mass of snow which has accumulated over the past three months. What makes it impossible to contain the runoff of waterways.