Tag Archives: Disaster planning and response

World

3 dead, 1 missing as rain pounds New Zealand’s largest city

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Authorities said Saturday that three people had died and at least one was missing after record levels of rainfall pounded New Zealand’s largest city, causing widespread disruption.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins flew to Auckland on a military plane after a state of emergency was declared in the region.

“Our priority is to ensure that Aucklanders are safe, that they’re housed and that they have access to the essential services that they need,” Hipkins said.

He said the city was in for a big cleanup and that people should remain indoors if possible. He said a break in the weather could prove temporary, with more heavy rain forecast.

“This is an unprecedented event in recent memory,” Hipkins said.

Friday was the wettest day ever recorded in Auckland, according to weather agencies, as the amount of rain that would typically fall over the entire summer hit in a single day. On Friday evening, more than 15 centimeters (6 inches) of rain fell in just three hours in some places.

The rain closed highways and poured into homes. Hundreds of people were stranded at Auckland Airport overnight after the airport stopped all flights and parts of the terminal were flooded.

Police said they found one man’s body in a flooded culvert and another in a flooded carpark. They said fire and emergency crews found a third body after a landslide brought down a house in the suburb of Remuera. One person remained missing after being swept away by floodwaters, police said.

Hipkins said power had been restored to most places, although about 3,500 homes remained without electricity.

Video posted online showed chest-deep water in some places.

Lawmaker Ricardo Menéndez posted a video of water surging into houses. “We’ve just had to evacuate our home as the water was already rising rapidly and coming in aggressively,” he tweeted.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said crews had responded to more than 700 incidents across the region and staff had taken more than 2,000 emergency calls.

“We had every available career and volunteer crew on the road responding to the most serious events,” said district manager Brad Mosby.

Mosby said crews had rescued 126 people who were trapped in houses or cars, or who had been involved in vehicle crashes.

Air New Zealand said it resumed domestic flights in and out of Auckland on Saturday afternoon, but wasn’t yet sure when international flights would resume.

“The flooding has had a huge impact our Auckland operations,” said David Morgan, the airline’s chief operational integrity and safety officer. “We’re working on getting customers to their final destinations and getting our crew and aircraft back in the right place. It might take a few days to get everything back on track.”

In a series of updates on Twitter, Auckland Airport said people were able to leave the airport early Saturday for their homes or accommodation after hundreds spent the night in the terminal.

“It’s been a long and challenging night at Auckland Airport, we thank everyone for ongoing patience,” the airport wrote.

“Unfortunately, due to earlier flooding in the baggage hall, we are currently unable to return checked luggage to you,” the airport wrote. “Your airline will make arrangements for its return at a later time.”

The storm also caused an Elton John concert to be canceled just before it was due to start Friday night. A second concert by John that was planned at the stadium on Saturday night was also canceled.

About 40,000 people were expected to attend each concert at Mt Smart Stadium. Thousands were already at the venue Friday night when organizers decided to cancel not long before John was due to take the stage at 7:30 p.m.

Many concertgoers who had braved the conditions were frustrated the decision hadn’t been made hours earlier.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown defended criticism that his office did not communicate the seriousness of the situation well and held off on declaring an emergency until about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

He said the timing of the emergency declaration was guided by experts.

“We will review everything that took place,” Brown said. “We’ve got to make sure we had the coordination, and the consultation with the public, correct.”

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US

California flooding: All of Montecito under evacuation order

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rescuers ended the search for a 5-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters in central California while the entire coastal community of Montecito was ordered to evacuate Monday as the latest in a series of powerful storms walloped the state.

Tens of thousands of people remained without power, and some schools closed for the day. Streets and highways transformed into gushing rivers, trees toppled, mud slid and motorists growled as they hit roadblocks caused by fallen debris. The death toll from the relentless string of storms climbed from 12 to 14 on Monday, after two people were killed by falling trees, state officials said.

A roughly seven-hour search for the boy turned up only his shoe before officials called it off as water levels were too dangerous for divers, officials said. The boy has not been declared dead, said spokesperson Tony Cipolla of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.

The boy’s mother was driving a truck when it became stranded in floodwaters just before 8 a.m. near Paso Robles, a small city inland from California’s central coast, according to Tom Swanson, assistant chief of the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department.

Bystanders were able to pull the mother out of the truck, but the boy was swept out of the vehicle and downstream, likely into a river, Swanson said. There was no evacuation order in the area at the time.

About 130 miles (209 kilometers) to the south, the entire community of Montecito and surrounding canyons scarred by recent wildfires were under an evacuation order that came on the fifth anniversary of a mudslide that killed 23 people and destroyed more than 100 homes in the coastal enclave.

The National Weather Service reported rainfall rates of one inch (2.5 centimeters) per hour, with heavy downpours expected throughout the night in the upscale area where roads wind along wooded hillsides studded with large houses. Montecito is squeezed between mountains and the Pacific and is home to celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe and Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Jamie McLeod’s property was under the Montecito evacuation order, but she said there is no way for her to “get off the mountain” with an overflowing creek on one side and a mudslide on the other. The 60-year-old owner of the Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary said one of her employees came to make a weekly food delivery and is stuck, too.

McLeod said she feels fortunate because her home sits on high ground and the power is still on. But she said she tires of the frequent evacuation orders since the massive wildfire followed by the deadly landslide five years ago.

“It is not easy to relocate,” said McLeod. “I totally love it — except in catastrophe.”

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the decision to evacuate nearly 10,000 people was “based on the continuing high rate of rainfall with no indication that that is going to change before nightfall.” Creeks were overflowing, and many roads were flooded.

Northbound lanes of U.S. 101, a key coastal route, were expected to be shut until Tuesday. Many other highways and local roads were closed because of rockslides and flooding.

Up the coast, evacuation orders were issued in Santa Cruz County for about 32,000 residents living near rain-swollen rivers and creeks. The San Lorenzo River was declared at flood stage, and drone footage showed numerous homes sitting in muddy brown water, the top halves of autos peeking out.

Maria Cucchiara, who lives in tiny, flooded Felton, went for a walk to count her blessings after “a huge branch harpooned” the roof of her small studio, she said.

“I have two kitties and we could’ve been killed. It was over a ton,” she said. “So needless to say, it was very disturbing.”

Nicole Martin, owner of the Fern River Resort in Felton, described a more laid-back scene Monday. Her clients sipped coffee amid towering redwood trees and were “enjoying the show,” she said, as picnic tables and other debris floated down the swollen San Lorenzo.

The river is usually about 60 feet (18 meters) below the cabins, Martin said, but it crept up to 12 feet (4 meters) from the cabins.

In Northern California, several districts closed schools and more than 35,000 customers remained without power in Sacramento — down from more than 350,000 a day earlier after gusts of 60 mph (97 kph) knocked majestic trees into power lines, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. A homeless person killed by a falling tree in the region was among the new deaths announced Monday.

The National Weather Service warned of a “relentless parade of atmospheric rivers” — long plumes of moisture stretching out into the Pacific that can drop staggering amounts of rain and snow. The precipitation expected over the next couple of days comes after storms last week knocked out power, flooded streets, and battered the coastline.

President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration Monday to support storm response and relief efforts in more than a dozen counties.

The weather service issued a flood watch for a large portion of Northern and Central California, with 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain expected through Wednesday in the already saturated Sacramento-area foothills.

In the Los Angeles area, there was potential for as much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain in foothill areas late Monday and Tuesday. High surf was also expected.

Much of California remains in severe to extreme drought, though the storms have helped fill depleted reservoirs.

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles, Janie Har and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, Amy Taxin in Orange County, Nic Coury in Aptos, Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz and Haven Daley in Felton contributed to this report.

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US

Evacuation warnings amid flooding after California storm

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Residents of a Northern California community were ordered to evacuate ahead of imminent flooding, and evacuation warnings were in place elsewhere in rural parts of the region on New Year’s Day after a powerful storm brought drenching rain or heavy snowfall to much of the state, breaching levees, snarling traffic and closing major highways.

Even after the storm moved through, major flooding occurred in agricultural areas about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Sacramento, where rivers swelled beyond their banks and inundated dozens of cars along State Route 99.

Emergency crews rescued motorists on New Year’s Eve into Sunday morning and the highway remained closed. Crews on Sunday found one person dead inside a submerged vehicle near Route 99, Dan Quiggle, deputy fire chief for operations for Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department, told The Sacramento Bee.

Sacramento County authorities issued an evacuation order late Sunday for residents of the low-lying community of Point Pleasant near Interstate 5, citing imminent and dangerous flooding. Residents of the nearby communities of Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond were told to prepare to leave before more roadways are cut off by rising water and evacuation becomes impossible.

“It is expected that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is moving southwest toward I-5 and could reach these areas in the middle of the night,” the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services said earlier on Twitter Sunday afternoon. “Livestock in the affected areas should be moved to higher ground.”

To the north in the state’s capital, crews cleared downed trees from roads and sidewalks as at least 17,000 customers were still without power Sunday, down from more than 150,000 a day earlier, according to a Sacramento Municipal Utility District online map.

Near Lake Tahoe, dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 after cars spun out in the snow during the blizzard, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains from the San Francisco Bay Area reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.

“The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.

More than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow had accumulated in the high Sierra Nevada, and the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area said heavy, wet snow would cause major delays in chairlift openings. On Saturday, the resort reported numerous lift closings, citing high winds, low visibility and ice.

A so-called atmospheric river storm pulled in a long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding and rock slides closed portions of roads across the state.

Rainfall in downtown San Francisco hit 5.46 inches (13.87 cm) on New Year’s Eve, making it the second-wettest day on record, behind a November 1994 deluge, the National Weather Service said. Videos on Twitter showed mud-colored water streaming along San Francisco streets, and a staircase in Oakland turned into a veritable waterfall by heavy rains.

In Southern California, several people were rescued after floodwaters inundated cars in San Bernardino and Orange counties. No major injuries were reported.

With the region drying out on New Year’s Day and no rainfall expected during Monday’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, spectators began staking out their spots for the annual floral spectacle.

The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California. The past three years have been the state’s driest on record — but much more precipitation is needed to make a significant difference.

It was the first of several storms expected to roll across the state in the span of a week. Saturday’s system was warmer and wetter, while storms this week will be colder, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

The Sacramento region could receive a total of 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain over the week, Chandler-Cooley said.

Another round of heavy showers was also forecast for Southern California on Tuesday or Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area office said.

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World

Revelers throng to New Year’s parties after COVID hiatus

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Revelers in major city centers across Europe and the Middle East were ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks, as many cities around the globe celebrated New Year’s Eve without restrictions for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Children crowded a metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to meet with St. Nicholas and enjoy a special performance ahead of the new year. Meanwhile, some soldiers who said they usually celebrate the holiday with family decided to stay in the trenches as they sought to defend their country.

Others in Ukraine returned to the capital, Kyiv, to spend New Year’s Eve with their loved ones. As Russian attacks continue to target power supplies, leaving millions without electricity, no big celebrations were planned. A curfew was to be in place as the clock struck midnight.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivered “a message of unity and trust” in a televised address Saturday. Referencing the war in Ukraine several times, Macron also sent a message to France’s “Ukrainian friends,” saying “we respect and admire you.”

“During the coming year, we will be unfailingly at your side. We will help you until victory and we will be together to build a just and lasting peace. Count on France and count on Europe,” he said.

Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, was bringing in 2023 with street festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church on Istanbul’s popular pedestrian thoroughfare Istiklal Avenue, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and marked former Pope Benedict XVI’s passing. The Vatican announced Benedict died Saturday at age 95.

The Pacific nation of Kiribati was the first country to greet the new year, with the clock ticking into 2023 one hour ahead of neighbors including New Zealand.

In Auckland, large crowds gathered below the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded fireworks. The celebrations in New Zealand’s largest city were well-received after COVID-19 forced them to be canceled a year ago.

There was a scare in the North Island coastal city of Tauranga, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) from Auckland, when a bouncing castle was blown 100 meters (yards). Tauranga City Council reported one person was hospitalized and four people were treated on site.

Over 1 million people crowded along Sydney’s waterfront for a multi-million dollar celebration based around the themes of diversity and inclusion. More than 7,000 fireworks were launched from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a further 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.

It was the “party Sydney deserves,” the city’s producer of major events and festivals Stephen Gilby told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We have had a couple of fairly difficult years; we’re absolutely delighted this year to be able to welcome people back to the foreshores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations,” he said.

In Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, a family-friendly fireworks display along the Yarra River as dusk fell preceded a second session at midnight.

Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar announced a suspension of its normal four-hour curfew in the country’s three biggest cities so residents could celebrate New Year’s Eve. However, opponents of army rule urged people to avoid public gatherings, fearing that security forces might stage a bombing or other attack and blame it on them.

Concerns about the Ukraine war and the economic shocks it has spawned across the globe were felt in Tokyo, where Shigeki Kawamura has seen better times but said he needed a free, hot meal this New Year’s.

“I hope the war will be over in Ukraine so prices will stabilize,” he said. “Nothing good has happened for the people since we’ve had Mr. Kishida,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

He was one of several hundred people huddled in the cold in a line circling a Tokyo park to receive free New Year’s meals of sukiyaki, or slices of beef cooked in sweet sauce, with rice.

“I hope the new year will bring work and self-reliance,” said Takaharu Ishiwata, who lives in a group home and hasn’t found lucrative work in years.

Kenji Seino, who heads the meal program for the homeless Tenohasi, which means “bridge of hands,” said the number of people coming for meals was rising, with jobs becoming harder to find after the coronavirus pandemic hit, and prices going up.

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Associated Press journalists Henry Hou in Beijing, Renata Brito in Kyiv, Yuri Kagayema in Tokyo, Grant Peck in Bangkok, Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.

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US

EXPLAINER: How blizzard stunned even winter-wise Buffalo

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The toll from the weekend blizzard that hit the Buffalo area was approaching 40 deaths Wednesday from the region’s deadliest storm in generations. Homes are only beginning to warm after days without heat. Drivers are still claiming cars they had abandoned.

In a region that prides itself on being able to handle frequent and heavy snowfall, the natural question is: Why was this storm so paralyzing?

Officials note that they declared emergencies, warned residents, and positioned crews and equipment well before the first storm winds blew in. But the ferocity of a blizzard packing near-hurricane-force winds and more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow severely limited what crews could do, even in responding to 911 calls.

On Wednesday, tensions surfaced between the region’s two top elected officials, with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz swiping at snow-removal efforts in the county seat of Buffalo, where a driving ban remained in place and National Guard troops helped to enforce it.

“The city, unfortunately, is always the last one to open,” Poloncarz said. “It’s embarrassing, to tell you the truth.”

In the aftermath of the storm, many of the dead were found outside, and others were in snow-covered vehicles and unheated homes. Some were stricken after clearing snow. Others died while awaiting help during a medical crisis.

A look at the response and aftermath:

THE FORECAST

Meteorologists saw it coming. Four days before the arrival of bad weather, the National Weather Service on Dec. 19 warned of a powerful storm and repeated the warning with increasing detail each day. An urgent advisory on Dec. 20 warned of blizzard conditions and heavy snow. By Dec. 21, forecasters termed it a “once-in-a-generation” storm. On Thursday, a blizzard warning was posted to take effect at 7 a.m. Friday, describing heavy snow, high winds, windchills of minus 10 to 25 degrees (minus 23 to 32 below Celsius) and “difficult to impossible travel” through Christmas weekend.

PREPARATIONS AND RESPONSE

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, saying “a potentially life-threatening storm” was coming, announced Thursday that the city would be under a state of emergency once the storm arrived the next morning. Closures of schools, churches and offices, including government offices in Erie and neighboring Niagara and Chautauqua counties, poured in.

Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded the state of emergency to the entire state Thursday and said state equipment and personnel were standing by, and the state Thruway Authority — which oversees the interstate highways linking Buffalo to other major cities statewide — announced commercial vehicles would be banned for a stretch in the area at 6 a.m. Friday.

“We highly recommend private businesses to close on Friday and Saturday,” Erie County Executive Poloncarz said at a public briefing, using a slideshow to illustrate the forecast, blizzard conditions, and dangers of frostbite and hypothermia.

By Friday, the county upgraded a travel advisory to a ban — too late, critics said, for employees who were instructed to go into work. Poloncarz said later the intent was to allow third-shift workers to get home, that conditions deteriorated more quickly than expected.

Some people ventured out anyway. Among them was Sean Reisch, a 41-year-old salesman from the suburb of Cheektowaga, who came to regret the decision to pick up milk and bread Friday afternoon.

“As I pulled on one of our main streets, it was like incredibly whiteout conditions to the point where you literally couldn’t see anything.,” he said.

The store was closing when he arrived, and when he got stuck in the parking lot someone lent him a shovel to dig out his Nissan Sentra, loaded with presents for his young children.

He barely made it home, sticking his head out the window in a cold wind that “took your breath away” to dodge drifts. At last he stumbled into his house, stunned.

“I kept saying to my wife all night long, ’I don’t think you understand how lucky I am to be here.′ How lucky? I can’t believe I made it home through all that.”

STORM VETERANS

It’s no surprise that getting people to heed warnings is a challenge. But with climate change intensifying all kinds of global weather events, according to experts, the stakes are higher.

“People tend to normalize … ‘Well, I’ve lived here all my life. I went through the worst blizzard. I know what I’m doing,’” said Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Obama administration. “This is something I think we’re going to really wrestle with with extreme weather … We’re seeing events that are exceeding our past experiences, and they’re exceeding our understanding.”

Fugate pointed to Hurricane Ian’s death toll in Lee County, Florida, in the fall, and the criticism the county faced for issuing a mandatory evacuation order just one day before the storm hit, choosing to wait while surrounding counties posted theirs.

With the blizzard arriving on the last shopping day before Christmas Eve, many employees, some citing the lack of a driving ban, said they felt pressured to go to work.

“If there’s criticism that it wasn’t done right, I’ll take it,” Poloncarz responded Wednesday.

THE HOLIDAY

Erie County Emergency Services Commissioner Dan Neaverth Jr. said he had to put his foot down to keep his own family members from running last-minute holiday errands in the storm, something many of those stranded were likely doing.

“How this fell, exactly where it did, heading into a holiday weekend,” he said, “I think that that had a tremendous impact on people wanting and feeling that need. … but not everybody had the benefit of a father who said, ‘Absolutely not, under no circumstances should you go out.’”

THE CRITICISM

Some residents of Buffalo, about 27% of whom live in poverty, bristled at instructions to “stock up” on food and medicine before the storm, calling it unrealistic.

Others questioned whether the region has enough specialized equipment to handle increasingly common extreme weather after volunteer snowmobile operators and emergency responders from outside agencies sent people and equipment. Poloncarz suggested Wednesday that the county, with more money and other resources, should take over the city’s future storm operations.

As National Guard members knocked on doors Wednesday conducting wellness checks, guard spokesperson Eric Durr addressed complaints members did not respond to the sometimes desperate pleas filling social media from people trapped in cars, freezing in homes without power or suffering medical emergencies.

Hochul had said Friday that 54 members of the National Guard and five vehicles would be deployed in Erie County to help.

At one point Saturday, almost every fire truck in Buffalo was stranded, along with numerous police vehicles, and residents of Buffalo and several suburbs were told emergency services were unavailable. Even plows were pulled from roads.

“If the fire department isn’t there, chances are the National Guard can’t get there,” Durr said.

On Saturday, Hochul announced additional troops. By Tuesday, more than 500 National Guard members were in western New York, her office said.

POLITICAL FALLOUT

Responding to Poloncarz’s critique of the city’s response, Brown said that the city bore the brunt of the storm and that its narrow residential streets posed challenges. He suggested Poloncarz, a fellow Democrat, was “crumbling” under stress.

“Some keep working, some keep trying to helping the residents of our community,” Brown said, “and some break down and lash out.”

“I don’t have any feud,” he said.

THE FUTURE

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia was among those looking for ways to improve after first responders were prevented from answering calls, saying “better equipment, more equipment” would help.

“We never thought that it was going to be as bad as it was,” he said. “So do we have to get better? Absolutely.”

Fugate said FEMA has benefited from talking with survivors of hurricanes to ask why they made the decisions they did.

“We can’t ask that of those who lost their lives, but we can people who were stranded,” he said. “We can ask the questions: What more information did you need to make a better decision?”

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Associated Press reporter Heather Hollingsworth contributed from Mission, Kansas.

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US

Big California storm dumps snow, drenches parched regions

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A major storm hitting Northern California is expected to intensify and bring travel headaches and threats of flooding and mudslides after an abnormally warm fall in the U.S. West

December 13, 2021, 8:49 PM

4 min read

SAN FRANCISCO — Winter arrived early in Northern California with wind, rain and snow that was expected to intensify Monday as forecasters warned that mountain passes will probably be closed to traffic and areas burned by wildfires could face rockslides and mudslides following an especially warm and dry fall across the U.S. West.

The multiday storm, a powerful “atmospheric river” weather system that is sucking up moisture from the Pacific Ocean, raised the threat of flooding and was expected to dump more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow on the highest peaks in California and Nevada and drench other parts of the two states before it moves on midweek, forecasters said.

“This is a pretty widespread event,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Wanless in Sacramento. “Most of California, if not all, will see some sort of rain and snow.”

The storm will bring much needed moisture to the broader region that’s been gripped by drought that scientists have said is caused by climate change. The latest U.S. drought monitor shows parts of Montana, Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah are classified as being in exceptional drought, which is the worst category.

Most western U.S. reservoirs that deliver water to states, cities, tribes, farmers and utilities rely on melted snow in the springtime.

This week’s storm is typical for this time of the year but notable because it’s the first big snow that is expected to significantly affect travel with ice and snow on the roads, strong winds and limited visibility, Wanless said.

Drivers on some mountain passes on Sunday had to put chains on their tires and were warned of possible road closures in coming days.

“Travel will be hazardous and is highly discouraged,” the weather service office in Sacramento said on Twitter. Heavy rain could cause minor flooding and rockslides, especially in areas that scarred by wildfires, forecasters said.

Gusts were so strong in and around San Francisco that state transportation officials issued a wind advisory for the Bay Bridge that connects the city with Oakland and warned drivers of campers and trailers to avoid the 4.5-mile (7.2-kilometer) span late Sunday.

South of the San Francisco Bay Area, a 40-mile (64-kilometer) stretch of the iconic Highway 1 in California’s Big Sur area was closed as a precaution until Tuesday. The scenic coastal route frequently experiences damage during wet weather.

Nearby Monterey County residents who live close to burn scars from last year’s Dolan Fire were warned to be prepared to evacuate if rains loosen hillsides and cause debris flows.

In Southern California, the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department issued evacuation warnings for several areas, citing the potential for flooding, and Los Angeles County fire officials urged residents to be aware of the potential for mud flows.

Forecasters said strong winds accompanying the storm could lead to power outages. Karly Hernandez, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric, said crews and equipment are staged across the state to respond quickly if the power goes out.

The second storm predicted to hit California midweek shortly after the current storm moves on could deliver almost continuous snow in mountainous areas, said Edan Weishahn of the weather service in Reno, which monitors an area straddling the Nevada state line.

Donner Summit, one of the highest points on Interstate 80 and a major commerce commuter route, could face major travel disruptions or road closures, Weishahn said.

The weather follows a November that was unseasonably warm for California.

Vail Resorts’ three Tahoe-area ski resorts opened with limited offerings over the weekend after crews produced artificial snow. Spokeswoman Sara Roston said the resorts are looking forward to more of the real thing.

The Sierra Avalanche Center warned heavy snow and strong winds on top of a weak snowpack could cause large and destructive avalanches.

One man died Saturday in a backcountry area of the Crystal Mountain ski resort in Washington state when he was caught in an avalanche that temporarily buried five others.

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Weber reported from Los Angeles.

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