First modification: Last modification:
Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – California awaited the arrival of a new storm on Monday, while still dealing with the rupture of a levee that caused significant flooding and the evacuation of thousands of people in this western state of the United States.
The rupture of the dam caused by the swelling of the Pájaro River left numerous houses flooded and vehicles submerged during the night from Friday to Saturday.
And on Monday, the breach widened to 100 meters wide, according to officials in Monterey County, south of San Francisco.
“Emergency repairs are underway to stabilize it,” the county said, registering no deaths or injuries at the moment.
However, more than 10,000 people were invited to leave their homes in the county, given the possibility that the Salinas River might overflow its banks in the coming days.
California, the most populous state in the country, faces a particularly wet winter. In January, a series of storms caused multiple floods, landslides and fallen trees, with a balance of 20 deaths.
The current storm, like most this season, is fed by an “atmospheric river,” a gigantic rain corridor that carries stored water vapor in the tropics, often around Hawaii.
Although the rains have been decreasing in intensity, they could again hit the region on Monday night and Tuesday, with about 5 centimeters expected on already saturated soils, which can lead to further flooding.
According to Brooke Bingaman, of the National Weather Service (NWS) in the region, the risks of new flooding are real. “It is very important that they leave the areas that are expected to be affected,” she asked in a video on Twitter.
Record snowfalls have been recorded in the surrounding mountains in recent months, resulting in a huge accumulation of snow.
The new rains, coming from a fairly warm area of low pressure, could melt part of the exceptional snow cover accumulated in the last three months. This could cause potentially uncontainable runoff to rivers and streams.
Meanwhile on the east coast of the country, the state of New York is also expecting a considerable amount of snow to fall due to a storm with wind gusts of up to 100 km / h, which threatens to cause extensive power outages.
© 2023 AFP
