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LOS ANGELES — Rain and snow hit huge swaths of California on Friday, shutting highways across the state and opening the spillway of one major dam for the first time in nearly four years.
About 9,000 people have been ordered to evacuate in the state, according to California emergency director Nancy Ward.
In Tulare County, evacuation orders have been issued for parts of the small community of Springville and the city of Exeter due to flooding and swelling waterways, the sheriff’s office said. Evacuation warnings were issued along the Tule River at Porterville, a population of 62,000.
President Joe Biden on Friday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for a state of emergency, requiring federal assistance for the state, “tribal and local response efforts” caused by ongoing “severe winter storms, flooding, mudslides and mudslides,” the White House said. .
“We’ve lived here for about 20 years and have never seen anything like it,” said Eric Dieckmann of Soquel in Santa Cruz County, whose home is on the other side of the washed-out road.
Even after flood fears subsided Friday night, more bad weather is expected over the weekend and in the coming days, National Weather Service meteorologist David Lawrence said.
“Over the weekend, we will see additional periods of rain and heavy mountain snow across much of Northern and Central California,” Lawrence told reporters at OES headquarters in the Sacramento suburb of Mather. “And we’re also likely to see this kind of weather continue through at least the first half of next week.”
The incessant snowfall has kept the state transportation agency busy clearing roads of 45 million cubic yards of snow over the past month, enough to “fill more than 100 rose bowls,” California Department of Transportation Deputy Director Mike Keaver said.
Recent storms prompted the state to release water from the main spillway at Lake Oroville at noon Friday as snow melt is likely to cause lake levels to rise further in the coming months.
This is only the second time that water has spilled from a restored spillway since the 2017 natural disaster that upended life in the Golden Country and forced the evacuation of more than 180,000 people.
Some of California’s most famous and most visited roads sometimes close on Fridays due to flooding.
- Part Scenic Highway 1 in Monterey County was closed due to rockfalls, water, and debris.
- South US Highway 101 near the state garlic center, Gilroy could not be used.
- Interstate 580, the main highway through San Francisco’s East Bay, finally reopened by noon.
- Main Street in Soquel, a community of about 9,900 in Santa Cruz County, was washed away. In Kernville, northeast of Bakersfield, evacuation orders were issued due to flooding in the Kern River.
State officials warned Californians that any amount of moving water could be dangerous.
Just 6 inches of moving water can easily knock a person off their feet, while a foot of water can blow away a car, the San Luis Obispo Emergency Services Administration warned Central Coast residents Friday.
“Remember, don’t walk, swim, or drive in flood waters, and avoid unnecessary travel today.” the agency said.
Department of Transportation officials urged state residents to check the weather before going outside.
The department warned drivers to “prepare for delays and bring extra food, water, blankets and other essentials, and pack mobile phone chargers.”
The heaviest rain left Northern California by Friday afternoon, but not before 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the National Weather Service.
Floods in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were monitored until 4 a.m. Saturday, but the Oxnard National Weather Service said Friday night that the heavy rain has ended and the waters began to recede.
More than 10 inches of rain fell in Rocky Butte in San Luis Obispo County by 10 p.m., according to the weather service, although other areas received less. In the village of Cumbria, where there were evacuation orders for some residents that were later cancelled, more than 5 inches of rain fell.
Chimney Rock Road was washed away in Paso Robles. A San Luis Obispo County spokesman said they’ve had road problems and temporary solutions since January, but were unsuccessful on Friday morning.
Fresno County rescuers rescued, including three women, two aged 80 and one aged 104, who were trapped in their home after flushing a culvert, Sheriff John Zanoni said Friday.
Difficult weather conditions will also bring heavy snowfall to parts of the northern plains on Friday, as well as parts of the upper Mississippi valley on Saturday.
Rainfall is also expected in parts of the middle Mississippi Valley, with snowfall expected to reach the Great Lakes by Sunday.
The storm system on Friday brought snow and rain to the Great Lakes, northeast and southeast, including 12 inches in Mecon, Wisconsin, 10 inches in Milwaukee, 9 inches in Woodstock, Illinois, and 4 inches around Detroit.
Rain and snowfall will continue to move east of the Great Lakes across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Western New York and northeastern Pennsylvania can get 4 to 8 inches of snow.
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