California welcomed a brief reprieve from weeks of driving rains Wednesday but still faced threats from raging rivers and bloated reservoirs that forced daring rescues and kept thousands of residents from their homes.
Parts of San Jose were underwater after the Anderson Reservoir overflowed into Coyote Creek, a river that normally rolls quietly through the Santa Clara Valley. Not on Tuesday.
More than 200 people were rescued by crews steering boats crowded with parents, kids and pets through nasty, chest-deep water. Sewage, garbage and engine fuel tainted the floodwaters, and those rescued needed to wash down with soap, San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said.
Neighbourhoods in the 100-year flood zone and beyond drew mandatory evacuation orders.
The “atmospheric river” of storms hammered parts of Southern California with almost a foot of rain late last week before roaring into Northern California on Monday and Tuesday. The region’s waterways, already saturated by weeks of downpours, were ill-equipped for the torrents.
