Monitoring Desk
SANTA CRUZ: A huge cyclone gyrating off California’s coast was dumping rain on Wednesday, threatening further floods and landslides in the already saturated state.
At least 18 persons have died in the parade of storms that hit the western United States (US), bringing rainfall levels not seen in 150 years.
Communities have been washed out, roads blocked by rockslides, and powerlines toppled as an endless deluge pounds the Golden State.
A swathe of northern California state was under a flood watch and winter weather advisory on Wednesday.
“Heavy rains are expected to impact northwestern areas of California through the next few days with a few inches of rain expected,” warned the National Weather Service.
That rain will come after weeks of heavy rains that have left the earth saturated, with rivers ready to burst and hillsides at risk of collapse.
California cyclone
In the Aptos town near Santa Cruz, residents were gathering the pieces after being inundated by flood water.
“It is probably the worst flood that I have seen here since I have lived here, since 1984,” Doug Spinelli told AFP.
“The Aptos Creek was flowing down so angrily; I thought it would rip out our little pedestrian walkway, and tree trunks were being forced down the river at nearly one every 30 seconds.
“It was amazing to watch how much timber and debris flowed down the creek.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said with a seemingly endless stream of storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean, even low downpours could prove problematic.
“The inches of rain and the intensity do not tell the entire story,” the governor told reporters.
According to the LA Times’ tally, the 18 confirmed dead in the state include drivers found in submerged cars, people hit by falling trees, a wife and husband killed in a rockfall, and people whose dead bodies were discovered in floodwaters.
Winter storms are not unusual in California, which tends to get most of its annual rain over a reasonably short period
