A violent storm continues to hit California, in the western United States.
It has already caused dangerous floods accompanied by very strong winds, causing at least three deaths and depriving nearly half a million homes of electricity.
Downpours are falling on the south of the “Golden State”, where it has been raining continuously since the end of the weekend.
In the north of the state, where the gusts were the strongest, at least three people died on Sunday due to falling trees, according to local authorities.
“This is a major storm, with dangerous consequences that can potentially put lives at risk,” warned California Governor Gavin Newsom, proclaiming a state of emergency in eight of the state’s 58 counties.
Those in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Santa Barbara, all located in the South, are particularly affected.
Dangerous landslides
The authorities are increasing messages of caution, as the rain is expected to continue until Wednesday in places.
It pours onto soils already saturated by a first storm last week, which increases the risk of flooding, because the earth no longer absorbs anything.
The region is in fact facing a phenomenon called Pineapple express, literally pineapple express in French.
This is the same phenomenon as the atmospheric river which brings continuous humidity to Europe over a given period from the Antilles.
In California, the difference is that this rain corridor originates from the Hawaiian archipelago in the Pacific, hence the name.
“The Los Angeles metropolitan area, as well as areas approximately 50 miles
east
and west, remain at high risk of severe flooding, debris flows and landslides,” warned Daniel Swain, a specialist in extreme weather phenomena at the University of California at Los Angeles, on Monday.
Like the rest of the region, the city of Los Angeles experiences flooding capable of cutting off certain roads or intersections, as well as dangerous landslides.
This notably prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders for the Hollywood and Santa Monica hills, which overlook the metropolis.
Large landslide on the north side of the Hollywood Hills.
@weatherchannel pic.twitter.com/eZ7mlYuSPc
— Chris Warren (@TWCChrisWarren) February 6, 2024
In this affluent area, mudslides literally buried cars and caused a house to slide off its foundations.
“When I went out to see what had happened, I saw a water heater where the house had been, and sure enough, the house had slid down the slope onto the road,” said a witness.
For Los Angeles, “yesterday was the tenth rainiest day since we began recording precipitation levels in 1877,” said Mayor Karen Bass during a press conference.
“Now more than ever, stay safe and stay off the roads.
Only leave your home if absolutely necessary,” she insisted.
A landslide on Beverly Dr. in Beverly Hills, CA has six families displaced, and there's growing concern of the potential for more land to slide, putting more homes at risk.
@weatherchannel is live storytelling in California as the rain from the latest #AtmosphereRiver falls.
pic.twitter.com/INxervflaB
— Justin Michaels (@JMichaelsNews) February 6, 2024
More than 300,000 homes and businesses suffered power outages on Monday.
They particularly affect the north of the state, where winds of more than 160 km/h have been recorded in the San Francisco region.
Dozens of flights departing and arriving at Los Angeles airport were canceled or delayed.
The west coast of the United States endured an unusually wet winter last year, due to a series of closely spaced storms that brought near-record rainfall.
These disasters caused more than twenty deaths and caused numerous damages and power outages.
But they allowed California to replenish part of its water reserves after several years of intense drought.
Historically, California is used to alternating between hot spells and intense rains and it is always complicated to link a particular meteorological event to climate change.
However, scientists have been warning for years that global warming is disrupting the climate and increasing the frequency of extreme events, whether storms or heatwaves.