US President Joe Biden will visit areas of California ravaged by a series of storms on Thursday, January 19, which killed at least 19 people.
US President Joe Biden will visit this Thursday, January 19 “ communities affected by destruction from recent storms, review reconstruction efforts and assess additional federal assistance needed “, announced, Monday, January 17 in the evening, the White House in a press release. Since December 27, severe winter storms have been causing flooding, landslides and mudslides in California. The damage has already been estimated at $1 billion.
The most precipitation since January 14, 1862 »
Upstate San Francisco has recorded more than 45 centimeters of rain since Dec. 26, 2022, according to a National Weather Service (NWS) report. It was the 22-day period that recorded the most rainfall. since January 14, 1862 “, has also commented on the American meteorological service. In the Central Valley, the most fertile region of California – which produces 40% of American fruit – Modesto on Monday broke the daily rainfall record of 1950 and Stockton that of 1973, tweeted the Sacramento NWS.
Saturday, January 14, waterspouts had still fallen on the Pacific coast, causing the overflow of many rivers and flooding urban areas, homes and agricultural land dried up by an interminable drought. Power lines were hit, and fields and roads were submerged. However, the succession of these storms since the end of December could soon come to an end. The NWS is indeed planning for the weekend “ a period of drier weather over California and the southwestern U.S.united states “.
California will then perhaps, finally, have time to repair the damage, restore electricity – some 23,800 homes were still without it on Monday – and learn the lessons of these bad weather ” unprecedented on the scale of our lives in the words of the Governor. In San Francisco, the past three or so months have been the wettest since the winter of 1972-73. At the same time, California, whose agriculture feeds North America, is facing an unprecedented long-term drought.
” A world that no longer exists »
But the torrential rains of recent weeks will not reverse the trend. They “ won’t be enough to refill Lake Mead “, warns – for example – the NWS about this gigantic reservoir on the Colorado River which waters California and whose level has been inexorably falling for years. There, the water control and retention infrastructure – dykes, artificial lakes, constrained riverbeds – ” were thought 40, 50 years ago ” to ” a world that no longer exists “Said California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday.
By blocking the runoff of water, these developments limit the vital recharge of groundwater, explain specialists. The Democratic governor, one of the most committed in the United States on climate change, intends to tackle these issues, as ” that the heats become much hotter, the dry drier and (…) and more humid humidity “. Global warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, say scientists.
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