The death toll from the extreme winter storms that have been plaguing the US state of California since Boxing Day rose to fourteen on Tuesday. Also, a 5-year-old boy is missing after being swept away by a water stream, according to local media. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the state on Monday, where more than eight inches of rain per hour has fallen in some places.
For 90 percent of 40 million Californians are on a severe weather warning. That is more than 10 percent of the total population of the United States.
Local authorities have called for some 32,000 people to evacuate from the city of Santa Cruz. More than 250 miles south in Santa Barbara, another 10,000 Californians are being urged to leave the area, it said international media.
Risk of tornado
On Sunday, 350,000 residents of the state’s capital, Sacramento, were left without electricity as gusts of nearly a hundred miles per hour blew trees onto power lines. On Tuesday, 35,000 people still have no power, said the municipal utility.
In relatively sparsely populated Central California, there is a risk of a rare tornado, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen. The area, which is located northwest of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, has about 2.3 million inhabitants. Normally an idyllic region with many vineyards, it is also referred to as the ‘backyard of Hollywood’.
Many famous Americans live just between Central California and Los Angeles, in the wealthy enclave of Montecito. Prince Harry and Princess Meghan of the United Kingdom, among others, have been evacuated from their home there, as has TV presenter Oprah Winfrey. Five years ago, mudslides killed 23 people in the area.
The fierce winter storms are caused by a meteorological phenomenon called ‘bomb cyclone’. The air pressure drops sharply within a short time, for example because cold air from the poles comes into contact with warm seawater. Currently in California, there is also a large amount of moisture coming from the sea winds towards the coast. The occurrence of these types of weather phenomena is of all times, but according to California Minister of Resources Wade Crowfoot, the storms of recent weeks have been “additionally boosted by climate change”.