Mudslides, power outages and deaths: severe storm hits California Acquittal of alleged murderer of journalist in Serbia – protests in Belgrade

Heavy rain and strong winds paralyzed parts of California and killed several people. Authorities have so far reported three deaths from the storm, as US media unanimously reported on Monday (local time). Near Sacramento, a man was struck by a falling tree in his yard and later died from his injuries, the Sacramento County coroner’s office said Monday.

In the other two cases, two people were fatally injured by falling trees in Northern California, the American broadcaster CNN reported. So the deaths occurred on Sunday.

The storm, which initially hit the greater San Francisco area, moved further south on Monday, reaching Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The heavy rain caused mudslides, flooded streets and disrupted power supplies. According to the PowerOutage website, hundreds of thousands of households were temporarily without power. The National Weather Service warned of wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. California Governor Gavin Newsom warned on Sunday of a “severe storm with dangerous and potentially life-threatening consequences” and declared a state of emergency for several districts.

The reason for the heavy rainfall is a weather phenomenon called ‘atmospheric river’. According to the German weather service, this is “a relatively narrow, directional band of moisture-saturated air” with a width of about 500 km and a length of about 2,000 km or more. Such systems transported much of the water vapor outside the tropics. Because the moist air masses hitting California originate mainly from the tropical Pacific ocean regions around Hawaii, they are sometimes called the “Pineapple Express.” (sda/dpa)