A powerful winter storm has wreaked havoc in California and has now moved into the Southwest, bringing heavy rainfall, snow, blizzard conditions, and low temperatures. As the storm continues to batter the region, residents are dealing with several hazards, including flash floods, mudslides, and shallow landslides.
Record-breaking low temperatures have been forecasted for downtown San Francisco on Saturday morning, with the mercury dropping to 38 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest since 2009. Meanwhile, flash flood warnings have been issued for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with as much as 10 inches of rainfall expected before Saturday afternoon.
Evacuation warnings have been issued for some areas, and residents have been advised to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. Shallow landslides, mudslides, and flash flooding are expected in areas burned by wildfires or near creeks and streams.
In the Sierra Nevada backcountry around Lake Tahoe, an avalanche warning has been issued, and nearly 117,000 residents are without power as of Saturday morning, according to PowerOutage.US. The situation in California is dire, with several motorists trapped on State Route 17 and much of Interstate 80 remaining closed on Friday.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, the situation is not any better, with over 472,000 outages reported due to one of the worst ice storms in decades. The governor has called for more accountability from the state’s two largest utilities on repair efforts after the storm damaged electricity lines. Temperatures in the Detroit area were expected to drop into the high teens on Friday night and early Saturday, with promises of restoration by Sunday.