California’s ‘Pineapple Express’ relents, with some areas starting cleanup efforts

Updated January 5, 2023 at 9:50 PM ET

Several parts of California finally eased on Thursday night after a massive “Pineapple Express” winter storm that hit the coast and interior of the state Wednesday through Thursday with high winds, heavy rain and snow. It has been.

By late Thursday afternoon, Watsonville Bay Area mayor Rene Mendes was cautiously optimistic that the worst of the storm was over.

“It wasn’t as intense as we expected. Of course the weather is unpredictable, but we were prepared,” he said. “It’s still drizzling, it’s still raining, but the situation is calm.”

The city’s evacuation order has been lifted, and city officials have begun assessing areas affected by the storm. Although conditions are improving, Mendez said he is warning residents to exercise caution in the next few hours as more rain is expected in California and neighboring areas.

“For now, we consider ourselves out of the woods, and we hope that residents will be able to return to their homes and regain some sense of normalcy,” Mendes said.

But the storm left its mark elsewhere.

Trees and power lines were uprooted, electricity was cut off, and roads and highways were blocked. In San Francisco, a tree fell directly on top of a car, temporarily trapping a family inside (more on that below).

“The storm set off evacuation warnings across the north of the state. It set off landslides. It really closed roads everywhere,” Kevin Stark of member station KQED told NPR early Thursday.

“The wind was particularly strong, reaching 85 mph in parts of the Bay Area,” Stark added.

According to Poweroutage.us, more than 100,000 electricity consumers in California still had no electricity as of around 4:30 p.m. local time on Thursday. This was an improvement from early Thursday, when nearly 196,000 accounts were without power.

The severe weather was brought on by the “powerful Pineapple Express,” the National Weather Service announced this week. It uses the term for atmospheric rivers that bring water-rich, cyclonic waves from around the Hawaiian Islands to the Pacific coast.

It’s the third time since Christmas that heavy rains from atmospheric rivers have hit California.

Here are some scenes and updates from the region that have withstood the storm.

2-year-old child dies after tree falls on house

Fallen trees and tree branches pose a danger Thursday after 2-year-old boy Ion Tocchini landed in a mobile home in Occidental, Calif., after a redwood tree died where he and his family lived. tragically emphasized. , announced by the authorities.

In downtown San Francisco, wind snapped a mature tree at the base and dropped it into a Honda sedan, trapping a family in a car next to the main San Francisco Public Library.Firefighter used chainsaw Residents reported safe to rescue their families.

“Due to the current storm, we’re seeing fallen trees everywhere in the Bay Area.” BART — or Bay Area Rapid Transit — said Note in the tweet that the tree destroyed power lines used by passing trains.

Roads and piers damaged or closed in many areas

About 50 miles southeast of the infant tragedy, a 19-year-old woman died Wednesday morning after driving into a partially flooded road in Fairfield, Calif. The driver’s car hydroplaned and crashed into a utility pole, she reported to KQED.

A swath of the Sierra Nevada has an avalanche warning through Friday morning.National Weather Service offices in Reno, Nevada took a high alertcites “extremely dangerous avalanche conditions” due to a combination of high winds and heavy snow.

In many areas, emergency officials continued to urge people to stay off the road. In addition to flash floods and landslides, roads were littered with broken trees, power lines and other debris. At higher elevations, some highways are closed due to whiteouts.

california civil servant Santa Cruz County is seeing “significant damage” from the storm, saying huge waves and storm surges have damaged piers along its coastline.

In Monterey County, Part of National Route 1 is closed to traffic On Thursday morning, the state’s Department of Transportation said at the time, “because waves hit the roads and caused flooding.” resumed after.

However, another area of ​​Route 1 was to be closed later in the day due to rock slides. Department of Transportation twitter account show.

Storm isn’t over yet, officials warn

In Sausalito, stormy weather knocked the city’s landmark bronze sea lion sculpture off its foundation. Officials say it’s “still secured with a few bolts” and is repairable.

In Los Angeles and elsewhere, meteorologists warned on Thursday morning that the storm wasn’t over, even though people saw patches of clear skies. report NBC Los Angeles forecaster Belén de Leon.

“The period of rain and snow will continue into the afternoon and evening,” the National Weather Service’s office in Sacramento said Thursday morning, adding that people may see isolated thunderstorms.

California and surrounding areas continue to experience wet weather. Water-laden atmospheric rivers have historically been viewed as balms for drought-stricken areas, but a series of storms is particularly dangerous as new high winds strike where the soil is already saturated with water. It’s dangerous. Areas left by wildfire scars, meaning land with a lower ability to absorb moisture, are even more at risk.

Unfortunately, it looks like it will rain more.

“Meteorologists here sometimes talk about what they call the ‘Storm Parade,'” said KQED’s Stark. We are considering a major storm.”

Watsonville mayor Mendez said he was strongly advising residents “just in case we need to evacuate again.”

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