Toppled trees, flooded streets as 12th atmospheric river pummels storm-ravaged California
India TodayThe latest burst of heavy, wind-blown rain and snow churned out of the Pacific into California on Tuesday, triggering scattered floods and mudslides, uprooting trees and leaving thousands of storm-weary residents under evacuation orders. More than 14,000 people statewide were under orders to seek higher ground because of flooding, with evacuation warnings issued for another 47,000 residents, said Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the California Office of Emergency Services. Crews were in San Luis Obispo County were on alert for Lopez Reservoir to reach full capacity for the first time in 25 years and spill over into an adjacent creek that runs to the seaside town of Oceano, bounded by a weakened levee, said Rachel Monte Dion, a county emergency services coordinator. The storm marked the 12th so-called atmospheric river since December to sweep the U.S. West Coast, formed from an immense airborne current of dense water vapor carried aloft from the ocean and flowing overland in bouts of heavy rain and snow.