Recap: Devastating impacts in California with another storm on the way

The worst is over when it comes to the most recent atmospheric river event in California, but the impacts will be felt for years to come.

Flood watches and warnings and winter storm warnings are still active since the storm is still going. While the weekend will be quieter in between rain and snow showers, the next atmospheric river event will move in on Monday. Let’s recap the last 48-hours.

The large atmospheric river event that hit California has forced evacuations, flooded homes, caused power outages, and closed roadways. Not only did heavy rain contribute to the flooding but so did rapid snowmelt across the higher elevations that just had feet of snow packed on them in the last several weeks.

Rainfall rates reached 0.5 inches per hour, adding to the snowmelt.

Check out the TemperatureRadar archive below to watch the temperatures increase since March 8th to above freezing in many spots of the higher elevations, triggering snowmelt. Termed “Pineapple Express” due to its origin out of the same latitudes as the Hawaiian Islands, this atmospheric river carried a tropical air mass northeast in California.

Flood emergencies were declared, and usually tranquil rivers overflowed especially in Monterey, Tulare, and Kern counties.

Evacuations were already underway on Friday and they even continued after many went to sleep. Thousands along the Pajaro River in Monterey County were forced to quickly evacuate Friday night due to the levee breaking. An evacuation order had been issued earlier in the day. As much as 56 residents needed rescued by Cal Guard as the floodwaters hit Pajaro.

The National Guard was deployed to help first responders all across California. As of Friday, March 10th, more than 9,000 people were in an evacuation warned area. President Biden had approved an emergency declaration request from California’s Governor Newsom prior to the event, to have access to the much-needed resources.

A resident of Springville, Calif., spoke of the flooded Tule River, describing it as “exploding” from a usually calm river to the now raging rapids as heavy rain and snowmelt fed into it. Parts of Tulare County received more than 11 inches of rainfall in 48 hours.

As of Saturday morning, power outages have lessened, but more than 40,000 customers are still without power, with Monterey County having more than half of those outages.

A brand-new storm event fed by the plentiful moisture of another atmospheric river will push into the West on Monday with impacts lasting until late Tuesday night. Although all of this moisture has improved the drought conditions across California immensely, the short-term effects are devastating to the many who have been impacted.