Jan. 14 (UPI) — Flood and wind advisories are in place for parts of Northern California Saturday as the rain-soaked region braced for another round of deadly “atmospheric river” storms.
The new batch of heavy rainfall and strong winds is coming shortly after a record- breaking streak of precipitation in Northern California triggered flooding, deaths and power outages.
The next system is expected to pass through the Bay Area beginning Saturday.
“We’ve experienced destructive flooding of homes and infrastructure, levee breaches and overtopping, mudslides, hurricane force winds in many of our communities, and even had tornado touch down in Northern California,” Director of California Emergency Services, Nancy Ward, said in a press briefing Friday.
“Let me emphasize we are not out of the woods yet. The threat to communities remains, and waters will continue to rise even after these storms have passed,” she said.
California has experienced an average of 9 inches of rainfall over the past 18 days, according to David Lawrence, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Western Region Headquarters.
At least 19 people have been killed by California’s extreme weather, while a child who was swept away by flood waters is still unaccounted for.
Record precipitation was recorded in downtown San Francisco between Dec. 26 and Jan. 4, making it the wettest 10-day stretch in 150 years.
A mudslide damaged an apartment complex in Fairfax, Calif., on Friday, causing emergency services to evacuate 19 residents.
An evacuation order has been issued for parts of Santa Clara County due to flood risks, and a flood advisory was issued by the NWS for parts of the Bay Area, including Sonoma Country on Friday night.
Flood and wind advisories were in place for the entire Bay Area on Saturday morning.
A natural phenomenon called “atmospheric rivers” is contributing to the dangerous weather, according the the meteorologists.
Atmospheric rivers are defined by U.S. officials as relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere — like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics.
When atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow.
