President Biden visits storm-damaged California after a sequence of ‘atmospheric rivers’ slam the state
President Joe Biden is touring broken areas and being briefed on restoration efforts Thursday after devastating storms hit California in current weeks, killing no less than 20 individuals and causing destruction throughout 41 of the state’s 58 counties.
The president, accompanied by Federal Emergency Administration Company Administrator Deanne Criswell, Gov. Gavin Newsom and different state and native officers, is visiting the storm-damaged Capitola Pier in Santa Cruz County, the place he’s assembly with enterprise homeowners and affected residents.
Biden may even meet with first responders and ship remarks on supporting the state’s restoration at close by Seacliff State Park. Greater than 500 FEMA and different federal personnel have been deployed to California to assist the emergency response operations.
Criswell mentioned Thursday on the journey from Washington to California that the president and workers should be aware of what individuals have been by way of when touring to locations devastated by storms and different pure disasters.
“There has simply been a lot trauma to this group and it’s actually essential that we preserve that in thoughts. … These communities have had lack of life, lack of their well-being and their livelihood, and I believe it’s extremely essential that they know that the president is right here to assist them and that the complete pressure of the federal household goes to be behind them.”
Biden has already authorized a significant catastrophe declaration for the state, liberating up extra federal sources for restoration efforts. Hours earlier than the go to, he raised the extent of federal help obtainable even greater.
From Dec. 26 to Jan. 17, your complete state of California averaged 11.47 inches of rain and snow, in keeping with the Nationwide Climate Service’s Climate Prediction Heart, with some stories of as much as 15 ft of snow falling over the three-week interval within the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
California will get a lot of its rain and snow within the winter from a climate phenomenon often called “atmospheric rivers” — lengthy, slender bands of water vapor that type over the ocean and circulate by way of the sky.
California has been hit by 9 atmospheric rivers since late December. The storms have relented in current days, though forecasters had been calling for gentle rain towards the tip of this week adopted by a dry interval.
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