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California, reeling from a month-long string of late-winter storms, braced for another bout of heavy rains, wind and snow on Monday, while most of New York state and New England girded for a powerful Nor’easter.
The leading edge of the latest Pacific storm swept into northern California and was expected to intensify late Monday night through Tuesday as it spread through central and southern parts of the state still sodden from weekend flooding.
Emergency crews preparing for the season’s 11th “atmospheric river,” an airborne current laden with dense tropical moisture from the ocean, renewed sand-bagging operations and round-the-clock patrols of levees and rain-swollen riverbanks.
Mandatory evacuation orders remained in effect for residents in 10 California counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The National Weather Service (NWS) posted flood watches for much of the state, along with warnings for gale-force winds and extensive uprootings of trees.
“With the ground already saturated from the previous storm and river levels well above average, another round of major and life-threatening flooding is likely” along California’s coast, the Sierra Nevada foothills and the state’s vast Central Valley farm region, the NWS said.
Some of the heaviest rain, as much as 10 inches (25 cm), could fall in the Santa Barbara and San Bernardino mountains of Southern California, state climatologist Michael Anderson told reporters on Monday.
