Monitoring Desk
SALINAS: President of the United States (US) Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in California state, as the latest in a succession of storm systems, bringing heavy flooding to already saturated regions.
“Waves of heavy precipitation continue to batter the state of California,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said on Twitter.
“Heavy rain will continue to cause flooding and landslides/mudslides. Hazardous travel due to heavy snow over mountains and blowing snow to Colorado from California.”
Most of the town of Felton in the north of California was underwater Saturday, and the town had been underwater on New Year’s Day and again on Monday.
“I am so angry, I just want to cry,” said Camilla Shaffer, whose house flooded for the third time in the last two weeks.
Federal funding to supplement California relief
Late Saturday, Joe Biden “declared that a major disaster exists in California and ordered Federal aid to supplement the State of California, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the affected areas,” the White House said in a statement.
The declaration makes federal aid available for relief to affected people, including repairs and temporary housing.
At least 19 people are feared to have died from storm-related causes in three weeks.
Rescuers called off the search for five-year-old child Kyle Doan, who has swept away in floodwaters as his mother tried to rescue him from their car, said the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s office.
Governor Gavin Newsom warned residents of California that they were not in the clear yet: “We’re not done,” he said Saturday after visiting impacted residents.
He urged them to remain vigilant and said Californians should continue to exercise “common sense over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
According to the NWS, nearly 26 million Californians remained under a flood watch Saturday evening, many under evacuation advisories and orders.
The recent storms were originally welcomed but by now have brought disastrous flooding, officials said.
According to poweroutage.us, at about 0800 GMT Sunday, there were over 16,000 homes without power in California state.
The NWS said another 5.0 to 7.5 centimeters of rain could cause new mudslides and flooding, with parts of the Sierra Nevada witnessing three to six feet of snow and heavy winds buffeting coastal and central California at up to 80 kilometers per hour.
