Santa Cruz continues to flood at historic levels while downed trees decimate homes (and parked cars) in Sacramento.
We’re still processing — assessing, and coming to terms with — the bomb cyclone’s impact on the San Francisco Bay Area. Falling trees and damaged power lines and flooded garages and wet basement apartments showed us all just how susceptible SF (and its surrounding metropolis) are to the effects of the climate crisis.
A lot of rain fell over the last 24 hours, but how much? Here's a map showing the most rain fell over the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia Mountains with a few sites near 10" of rain. #cawx #AtmosphericRiver pic.twitter.com/Cim3dFsR3I
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) January 9, 2023
We’re by no means out of the proverbial woods yet, either. Sunday evening saw wind gusts up to 60 mph in some of the more mountainous parts of the region. Rainfall totals over the past 24hrs were also remarkable; the majority of Bay Area cities saw over 3.5” of precipitation fall from the sky.
In Sacramento, wind gusts caused widespread damage by way of fallen trees. Social media is filled with images of collapsed palm trees — some of which reduced parked cars into a crinkled-up amalgamation of plastics and metals.
So many huge logs in the San Lorenzo River! That first log must be 40-50 feet long! pic.twitter.com/XEyosUZoQ6
— Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) January 9, 2023
“I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe the destruction in Sacramento following last night’s storm,” writes Sacramento Bee reporter Sam Stanton on Twitter, surveying the damage along 23rd and P Streets. (Stanton and fellow SB reporters have collectively authored a well-written rundown on the damage strung throughout the city, which you can read here.)
Another tree fallen.#Sacramento #wind #weather #cityoffallentrees #Sacramentostorm #tahoepark pic.twitter.com/WRq55b7EIx
— Rose Cabral (@RoseCab) January 8, 2023
Santa Cruz saw a similar dystopian landscape, the San Lorenzo River in downtown Santa Cruz is overflowing and wreaking havoc on nearby residential buildings. As Mercury News reporter Ethan Baron so searingly, soundly, profoundly put it: “San Lorenzo River heading into downtown Santa Cruz looks like the Amazon.”
The zoo will be closed through Tuesday, January 10 as the team continues to clean-up storm damage.
All animals and staff are safe, but it will take a couple of days to get through all of the downed limbs and do some necessary tree work.
Stay safe out there, Sacramento! 🧡 pic.twitter.com/PWZ2cKpxRm
— Sacramento Zoo (@SacramentoZoo) January 9, 2023
And, yes: More rain and winds are on the way. Stay safe, Bay Area, and disaster prep accordingly.
What else happened over the weekend? Let’s take a quick rundown below.
- A missing body believed to belong to a local teenager was found near Highway 4 on Saturday afternoon. Concord police have said the body is likely that of 19-year-old Damond Lazenby Jr who went missing on New Year’s Day; Lazenby’s family was reportedly to pass out information Saturday afternoon when his lifeless body was found. More info.
- There’s a miles-long oil slick off the Santa Barbara County coast. “There are no reports of wildlife being harmed from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at this time,” the United States Coast Guard notes in a release; the source of the oil slick has yet to be identified. More info.
- The Tocchini family of Sonoma County continue reeling from the sudden loss of their 2-year-old son, Aeon after he was struck and killed by a tree that fell onto the family’s home. A GoFundMe campaign set up by Liz Haskins has raised over 260,000 over the past four days; all donations will go toward “a new home, a new vehicle, and [the contribution] will go to supporting a family while they grieve their youngest son.” More info.
- Whelp… Aaron Peskins was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Monday. And it seems that he’s as surprised as all of us, too. More info.
Feature image: Courtesy of Sacramento Zoo via Twitter
