Washington News: US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in California as winter storms continue to batter the most populous state in the country. Biden has ordered federal assistance to supplement California, tribal and local response efforts due to emergency situations resulting from persistent and severe winter storms, flooding and landslides, according to a statement released by the White House late Monday. The federal emergency declaration would authorize the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
On January 4, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the entire state, which is home to some 40 million residents, due to severe winter storms. He submitted a request to the White House on Sunday for a presidential state of emergency declaration to support the ongoing hurricane response and recovery efforts in the state.
Since late December, 12 people have died from storm-related effects including flooding, according to a statement released by the governor’s office, which is more than the number of civilian deaths from wildfires in the past two years. “We are in the midst of a deadly barrage of winter storms — and California is using every resource it has to protect lives and limit damage,” Newsom said in the statement. Winter storms continued with heavy rains in California, causing flooding, road closures and power outages in many areas across the state. “California is expecting a stronger and more widespread atmospheric levee that will bring strong winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms,” the governor’s office tweeted Monday, adding, “This is serious — stay safe, make necessary preparations, and limit non-essential travel.” limit”.
Nearly 100,000 homes and businesses in California were without power as of Monday, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that collects live power outage data from utilities across the country. Tens of thousands of people in northern California are battling persistent power outages on Monday as heavy rain and strong winds caused problems on roads but spared the region from widespread devastation.
Several school districts across the region and some individual schools facing power outages have canceled classes for Monday. Nearly all of California has received above average rainfall over the past several weeks, 400-600 percent above average. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate immediately in Montecito, Southern California, on Monday. All residents of the community in Santa Barbara County were urged to “leave now” by local officials as “the heaviest rain is yet to come this afternoon and evening”.
(With IANS inputs,