Parts of California have been hit with heavy rain and snow just days after a brutal bomb cyclone hit the United States.
when california prepares to ring new yearofficials issued evacuation orders for parts of the northern United States due to the risk of flooding.
Towns and villages around Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area were hardest hit by flooding on Saturday, with up to 3.7 inches (9.3 centimeters) of rain falling throughout the day.
More than 3.3 inches (8.3 centimeters) of rain fell in downtown San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, one of the highest daily rainfall since 1994.
Photos showed major roads closed due to flooding, as was a section of the famous U.S. 101 Highway south of the city on Saturday.
Some areas around the San Francisco Bay had rainfall totals in excess of 4 inches (10 centimeters), while east of Sacramento near the foot of the Sierra Nevada received as much as 5.3 inches (14 centimeters).
In the town of Pleasant Hill, northeast of San Francisco, a woman was seen being rescued from a car that stalled in floodwaters. Other images showed roads closed by rockslides in northern California.
Nurse Katie Leonard handed Patsy Costello, 88, a cup of tea as she was stuck in her car in Pleasant Hill, Calif.Photo: Associated Press
Ms Costello was helped to safety.Photo: Associated Press
Homes in the Sacramento area were left without power, with as many as 153,000 customers affected Saturday, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD).
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada to the east, experts warned that up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow could fall.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Sacramento issued a warning of dangerous driving conditions and posted photos on Twitter showing traffic on the snow-covered mountain pass.
Known as an “atmospheric river storm,” the wet weather pattern draws in long, wide swathes of moisture from the Pacific Ocean.
Meteorologist Courtney Carpenter said the storm could drop more than an inch of rain in the Sacramento area before moving south.
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It’s the first of several storms expected to sweep across California next week.
Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said the current system is expected to be warmer and wetter, while next week’s storm will be cooler.
Rockslide on State Route 299 in Trinity County, California Credit: AP
it appears in U.S. bomb cyclone hits central and eastern U.S.bringing huge blizzards and cold winds as low as -45C.
More than 200 million people — about 60 percent of the U.S. population — received some form of winter weather advisory or warning in late December for what the National Weather Service called a “historic winter storm.”
The storm killed at least 57 people in the United States and four more after a bus overturned on icy roads in British Columbia, Canada.
In the United States, 28 people died in New York state, most of them in Erie County, where the main city of Buffalo was hit hard.