The bomb cyclone that hit Northern California brought with it hurricane-force winds, which brought down power lines, smashed windows in downtown San Francisco, and forced a huge rig to flip over on the Bay Bridge that leads to Oakland.
At least one person was killed as a result of the system in San Mateo County, which is located south of San Francisco, and all flights were cancelled at San Francisco International Airport. In addition, a train travelling between Oakland and Sacramento became derailed after colliding with a tree, resulting in the suspension of service just in time for the evening rush hour.
“The windstorm came on very quickly and with a lot of force, “Daniel Swain, a climate scientist working at the University of California, Los Angeles, was quoted as saying.
According to what Swain stated in a video that was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, the fast intensifying low-pressure system caused wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour (129 kilometres) and driving rain over the area. According to PowerOutage.us, as of Tuesday at 5:50 p.m. local time, there were around 260,000 households and businesses throughout the state that were without power.
Since late December, the state of California has been pummelling by a series of storms that are collectively referred to as atmospheric rivers. These storms have brought torrential rains and record snowfalls to the Sierra Nevada and other mountain ranges. More than twenty people have been killed, and the amount of money that has been lost due to the collapse of roads, flooding of houses, and loss of electricity is in the billions of dollars.
On Tuesday, it seemed as if Santa Cruz County, which is located approximately 75 miles south of San Francisco, bore the brunt of the effects of an atmospheric river. The fire dispatch centre for the county was inundated with calls reporting fallen electricity wires and automobile accidents.
Authorities in Tulare County, which is located in the Central Valley, have issued an evacuation order ahead of the storm because of the increased risk of widespread flooding caused by levee breaches that occurred during the last week. In preparation for any potential swift-water rescues, the state prepositioned rescue workers.
It was anticipated that the greatest rain would fall on Tuesday, but the storm will continue to provide rain until late Wednesday as it moves through Nevada and Arizona.
