In California, a child died in violent storms – it was killed by a falling tree. The child, around two years old, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident in Sonoma County, west of the capital Sacramento, the Press Democrat newspaper reported on Wednesday evening.
The most populous state in the USA was hit by heavy rain and flooding over the weekend, and there were several deaths. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday. This makes it possible to react more quickly to developments, he tweeted.
200,000 households without electricity
The US Weather Service warned of heavy rain between Sacramento in the north and the Santa Lucia Mountains in central California. Due to already wet soils, flash floods are also possible, it said – especially in areas that were previously affected by forest fires.
Evacuation orders were in place in several cities, wrote the Los Angeles Times. According to the website “PowerOutage”, almost 200,000 households were without electricity on Thursday night.
In southern California, in the region around the coastal city of Santa Barbara, the authorities warned of floods and mud and boulder avalanches. The town of Montecito, where Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, presenter Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities live, is also affected.
According to the weather service, the reason for the extreme weather is – as was the case on the New Year’s weekend – a so-called atmospheric flow, a damp and narrow weather band that can stretch over hundreds of kilometers. This is the third such weather event in two weeks, the Los Angeles Times said. At the beginning of the year, at least two people died in severe storms in central California.
