Extreme weather threats in California are forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week, bringing even more flood and wind advisories.
So far, the ongoing onslaught of storms has forced evacuations, flooded homes, breached levees, sent vehicles into sinkholes, caused road and highway closures, knocked out power, hampered traffic, and damaged infrastructure.
Additionally, at least 19 people have died since late last year, across the state.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who visited Montecito on Friday, pleads with residents to remain vigilant amid dangerous conditions.
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A road crew cleans up a mudslide on River Road near the Russian River as a powerful storm of rain and wind reaches Guerneville, California on Thursday, January 5, 2023.
(Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“I know how tired you all are,” he said. “Just keep a little more vigilance over the course of the next weekend.”
The upscale area of Santa Barbara County had been evacuated earlier in the week on the fifth anniversary of a mudslide that killed 23 people and destroyed more than 100 homes.
Ed Carroll, director of state and local government for Tomorrow.io, told Fox News Digital that he had analyzed the data sets and determined that the western weather pattern was not likely to disappear quickly.
Tomorrow.io helps mitigate risk before events occur, allowing officials and localities to better understand a weather system and how to respond to it.
“Well, I looked at our data sets and this general weather pattern of what’s happening, not just in California but in the Pacific Northwest, is probably going to stick around for another week,” he said.
A man in heavy rain jumps over a mudslide and rushing water from the hillside in front of his home in the 3700 block of North Fredonia Drive on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, in Studio City, California.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Why do shocks like mudslides continue to affect communities, and how long can Californians expect them?
“The challenge right now with the landslide situation is that there is often a delay,” the meteorologist explained. “And, what I mean is, they’ve been through this long dry spell, right?… It’s almost like a really dry sponge doesn’t soak up water as fast as a wet sponge, so to speak. So, when “It rains, you start to compromise the soil. Initially there’s a lot of runoff… But, what’s happening right now is now it’s starting to seep into what was kind of a dry environment. And so, now things will start to settle.” .
“So that’s what really, in my opinion, causes these landslides. Because you don’t normally see these types of rainfall events,” Caroll added. “It’s unusual for them. And the topography can’t handle it.”
A worker operates a forklift to clear downed trees and mud at the site of a mudslide on January 9, 2023 in San Mateo County, California.
(Liu Guanguan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
A mega-drought has long plagued the West, but the Golden State has seen some relief in recent weeks.
The latest update from the US Drought Monitor shows that there is no exceptional drought, with only 0.32% reported to be in an extreme dry spell.
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A map that was once largely red and purple was shown to be mostly orange and yellow, though much of the state still suffers from drought conditions.
The Los Angeles Times, citing one of the monitor’s authors, said it was the first time this had happened since April 4, 2020, when none of the states were ranked in those categories.
A resident watches over Fredonia Drive in Studio City where a mudslide blocks the road during a storm on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.
(Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that debris flows, or landslides, are a common type of fast-moving landslides that tend to flow in channels.
They are caused by disturbances in the natural stability of a hillside, and may follow such droughts and accompany heavy rains, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions.
“Mudslides develop when water rapidly accumulates on the ground and results in a surge of water-saturated rock, soil, and debris. Mudslides typically begin on steep slopes and can be triggered by natural disasters. Areas Where forest fires or human land modification have destroyed vegetation on slopes is particularly vulnerable to landslides during and after heavy rains,” the agency notes.
In the US, landslides and debris flows cause between 25 and 50 deaths a year.
A truck tows a car that got stuck in mud as a result of the San Ysidro Creek overflowing from heavy rains in the area on January 10, 2023, in Montecito, California.
(APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)
Some areas are more likely to experience landslides or mudflows, including places where wildfires have destroyed vegetation, where landslides have occurred before, at the bottom of slopes or canyons, channels along a stream or river and areas where surface runoff is directed.
Following a landslide or debris flow, people should stay away from the site, as additional flooding or landslides may occur after such an event.
Carroll stressed that mudslides are hard to forecast and can happen at any time, advising people to always refer to local emergency management.
“In the short term, I don’t see the end of this because even after the storms tend to subside, there’s always a period of time afterward where they literally call it a delay. It’s almost like when a hurricane hits the coast. the gulf and it floods, but then when the storm passes, the flooding gets worse, right? Like a day later, because the Mississippi starts flowing. So, everything is always connected. So, there will be a period of time where it will be a threat, I foresee, for the next few weeks instead of a week or two,” he continued.
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“You know, and you have these storms that bring wind with them. But, when you bring wind and rain at the same time, which is just a monster to them, that’s what’s really causing most of the coastal erosion that’s going to happen.” It’s going to happen over the next few weeks, if not months, based on the fact that there could be, you know, other landslides as a consequence of something like this,” Carroll said.
On Monday, President Biden issued an emergency declaration to support response and relief efforts, but the governor is still waiting for the administration to issue a major disaster declaration.
Damage assessments, which have already begun, are expected to exceed $1 billion.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
