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Storm Brings Widespread Flooding Across Northern California; More Rain On The Way

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Matt Hamilton, Louis Sahagun, Paige St. John and Soumya Karlamangla

The most powerful in a series of winter storms lashed Northern California and Nevada on Sunday with heavy rains and strong winds, causing widespread flooding, downing trees and unleashing mudslides. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes as rivers overflowed their banks. Several key highways including Interstate 80, Interstate 280, U.S. 395 and U.S. 101 were closed for periods because of hazardous conditions. Authorities were trying to determine whether the deaths of three people in the Bay Area — one killed by a falling tree, two others by car accidents — were related to the storm.

 

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Proposed Federal Water Bill Would Streamline New Dam Projects

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena, Calif.)by Sharon McNary

Decades of planning for dams that could capture storm runoff in parts of Northern California has yet to lead to the building of such structures, a situation a Central California congressman hopes to change with a new bill that would cut through existing legal requirements and environmental regulations. Republican Congressman David Valadao is the bill’s sponsor. His district includes the farms visible along Interstate 5 from Bakersfield north for 160 miles. Those farmers want water, and his new bill, HR 23, is designed to streamline the dam approval process.

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Carmel Valley Homes Flooded By River Water After Nearby Levee Breaks

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Matt Hamilton

Ten homes in the Carmel Valley were partly flooded late Sunday after a nearby river swelled from heavy rain that pummeled Northern California, authorities said. The Carmel River breached “by several feet” and a levee in the area broke, sending water toward a cluster of 10 homes along the river bank, according to the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services. The extent of damage to the homes was not immediately known.

 

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Southern California To Get ‘Good Saturating Rains’ This Week

/in /by /Pasadena Star Newsby Anne Millerbernd

The monster storm that has beaten Northern California for the past few days was less fierce in Southern California on Monday. Nonetheless, the early-morning rains sparked freeway accidents, snarled traffic and left a man missing and feared dead after he and a companion were washed away in a flood-control channel in the South Bay. The storm is just the first of three rain events forecast for the area before the end of the week

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California Storms Add 350 Billion Gallons To Parched Reservoirs

/in /by /The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)by Paul Rogers

The powerful storms that soaked Northern California over the past week did more than trigger power outages, mudslides and flash floods. They sent roughly 350 billion gallons of water pouring into California’s biggest reservoirs — boosting their storage to levels not seen in years, forcing dam operators to release water to reduce flood risks and all but ending the five-year drought across much of Northern California, even though it remains in the south, experts said Monday.

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California Today: Severe Flooding, But Does That Mean Drought Relief?

/in /by /The New York Timesby Mike McPhate

The rain is back, and it seems to be coming all at once. A band of dense, airborne moisture from the tropics — known as an atmospheric river — swirled into Northern California on Saturday and was expected to linger through Monday. In just 48 hours, the system dropped up to four inches of rain across much of the region, with as much as nine inches in the foothills and mountains, where warmer air meant snow fell only at the highest elevations.

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Tuesday Storm Raises Many Concerns For Dept. Of Water Resources

/in /by /ABC 10 (Sacramento, Calif.)by Ananda Rochita

There are several concerns regarding weather conditions from Monday to Tuesday morning for the California Department of Water Resources. Jon Ericson with DWR said in the next several days, they expect the reservoirs to absorb that flow. “What we’ve seen is major streams and rivers peak over the last 24 hours, but what we’ll see in the next system is a second round of peaks as well,” said Ericson. “This is a colder system so we expect more snowfall at lower levels and less runoff to the reservoirs and to the rivers as well.”

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The Worst Of The Storms Is Over. Here’s What’s Next For California

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow, Tony Bizjak and Phillip Reese

Northern California’s major rivers swelled and then began receding during a pause between rainstorms Monday, leaving a trail of toppled trees and damaged roadways but no major urban flooding in Sacramento or elsewhere. The weekend’s big rainfall, the most Sacramento has seen in a two-day stretch since 2000, put another dent in the drought and left precipitation totals for the season at twice the average for this time of year. With a second storm expected to hit late Monday or early Tuesday, emergency officials remained watchful.

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Storms Have Added 33.6 Billion Gallons Of Water To Lake Tahoe Since Jan. 1

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

The series of storms over the last few weeks in the Sierra Nevada have been very good to Lake Tahoe. According to the National Weather Service, the lake has gained about 33.6 billion gallons of water since Jan. 1 — and the lake has risen about one foot. It’s a big turn around from just a few years ago, when the drought had Lake Tahoe water levels reaching record lows. After a lull Monday, more snow is on the way for the Sierra through Thursday.

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California Wine Country Hit Hard As Storms Rock West Coast

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by The Denver Post - Denver, Colo.)

Emergency crews in rescue boats and helicopters rushed to take advantage of a one-day break between storms Monday to rescue stranded people and assess damage after the heaviest rain in a decade overwhelmed parts of California and Nevada. Wine country in Sonoma County, California, was among the hardest hit areas, with up to 13 inches of rain since Friday. Rolling hills and vineyards along the scenic route known as River Road were submerged Monday with just the tips of vines visible in completely flooded fields.

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