Buildings and vehicles are partially submerged after levee fails in Manteca of San Joaquin County as atmospheric river storms hit California
In the Bay Area community of Portola Valley, a man driving a sewer truck was killed when a tree fell on the vehicle, the California Highway Patrol said. And in the community of Rossmoor, a driver was injured and a passenger died after a large tree fell onto a car, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.
In the Monterey Bay region, Santa Cruz County was blasted with gusts up to 80 mph at midday. Along the coastline of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, ocean foam blew across the roadways like large snowflakes.
Wind gusts reached 76 mph in Santa Cruz mountain communities, including Boulder Creek.
Resident Frank Kuhr waited for hours Tuesday afternoon at a downtown supermarket for crews to remove large redwoods that blocked a highway. ‘Trees are down everywhere,’ Kuhr said. ‘The wind has been unbelievable. Branches were flying through the air, and folks could hear trees just falling and cracking.’
‘This one´s a doozy,’ Kuhr said.
The storms impacted the area’s famous Alcatraz Island, causing the site to be closed Wednesday
A photograph taken with a drone shows a water filled sinkhole as a storm drain collapsed during last weeks storm at the Coyote Village condo complex in La Habra, East of Los Angeles
The 1.4 inch of rain that fell on downtown Los Angeles broke the March 21 record of 1.34 inches set in 1893.
Some 121,000 customers throughout the state were without electricity early Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.
The National Weather Service said Tuesday’s storm, which came on the first full day of spring following the state´s extraordinary winter, was a Pacific low pressure system interacting with California’s 12th atmospheric river since late December.
California’s unexpected siege of wet weather after years of drought also included February blizzards powered by arctic air.
The storms have unleashed flooding and loaded mountains with so much snow that roofs have been crushed and crews have struggled to keep highways clear of avalanches.
