California storm and floods
Emergency declaration for California as Atmospheric river storm prompts evacuations, flood concerns.
Yet another atmospheric river storm blasted into California on Friday, bringing dangerous flooding rains, heavy snow and howling winds to the state, and also triggering evacuation orders.
One person was killed Friday morning when a roof collapsed at a warehouse in Oakland, possibly due to heavy rains in the area, CNN reported.
Also on Friday, President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for California due to the storm and the resulting flooding and landslides.
Statewide, more than half of California’s 58 counties were under a state of emergency Friday due to the storm.
A swath of California is under either a winter storm warning or a flood watch, with the weather expected to continue to cause problems most of the weekend.
Portions of the state were under a rare “high risk” warning for excessive rainfall, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
Forecasters say the combination of rain and significant snowmelt could cause life-threatening flooding, mudslides and avalanches.
