White House declares 'major disaster' in California; hazardous roads plague Sierra, Bay Area
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
President Biden approved California’s request for a major disaster declaration to increase federal emergency support as storms and flooding continued to flog communities across the state over the weekend. Hazardous roadways plagued several areas Sunday, with home-bound Sierra travelers warned of near-impossible conditions on some roadways and Bay Area motorists dealing with closures forced by floods and landslides.
“California is grateful for President Biden’s swift approval of this critical support to communities reeling from these ongoing storms,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said after meeting with evacuated residents in Merced County on Saturday. The declaration will unlock more federal funding to help local and state storm response efforts and will make funding available to affected individuals in hard-hit Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties.
In the Bay Area, residents on Sunday assessed damage from the widespread flooding, wind and landslides that submerged roadways and felled trees — leaving at least one dead, a woman found beneath a tree branch in Golden Gate Park, according to officials. A National Weather Service flood advisory was in effect until 9 a.m. Monday for Bay Area shoreline and North Bay interior areas.
The storms showed signs of tapering off in the Bay Area, but not before another round of moderate rain showers was expected to blow through already waterlogged areas Monday. More than 2,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers around the region were without power Sunday afternoon, according to the company. Most of the outages were in San Francisco, the Peninsula and the South Bay.
Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Traveling-back-from-Tahoe-This-is-the-best-time-17719733.php
I hope the north coast are included. I'm in extreme northeast Humboldt. Highway 96 (Klamath River Highway otherwise known as the Bigfoot Scenic Byway) is closed indefinitely upriver with no detour. Did not have phone from the 6.2 earthquake in late December. Had electric as have Kohler propane generator. Power and phones came back Thursday but power is from a generator set up locally by PG&E at the old sawmill site. I have what I need and am basically cozy and safe.
Lots of trees went down. There will be many landslides in back country because of the large wildfires in recent years. The roots of large vegetation that keep soil in place on steep slopes may die and then rot and no longer hold the soil as well. There were large fires in 2022 but there were fires in 2020 and 2021 that were larger locally than any in recorded history.
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