Another brutal storm hits California, killing child after tree falls on home
- Emergency services said they anticipate ‘one of the most challenging and impactful … storms to touch down in California in the last five years’
- Evacuations ordered in a high-risk coastal area where mudslides killed 23 people in 2018, flights cancelled, and at least 180,000 buildings lost power
Damaging winds and heavy rains hit California on Thursday, knocking out power to tens of thousands, causing flash flooding, and leaving a child dead after a tree fell on a home.
Officials had ordered evacuations in a high-risk coastal area where mudslides killed 23 people in 2018 as the huge storm barrelled into the state on Wednesday. Authorities warned residents to hunker down at home in anticipation of flooded roads, toppled trees and other risks.
In Sonoma County, Occidental Volunteer Fire Chief Ronald Lunardi said a child believed to be under 2 years old died Wednesday night after a tree fell on a home, The Press Democrat reported.
The storm dumped rain in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, where the region had been under flood warnings. In Southern California, the storm was expected to peak into early Thursday, with Santa Barbara and Ventura counties likely to see the most rain, forecasters said.
“We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years,” said Nancy Ward, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said at a news conference that the city was “preparing for a war”. Crews cleared clogged storm drains, tried to move homeless people into shelters, and passed out emergency supplies and ponchos to those who refused to go.