On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden declared an emergency in California and ordered federal assistance to supplement local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from successive and severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides.
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California Calls State of Emergency Over Powerful Winter Storm
The federal emergency declaration will authorize the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
Last Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency throughout California, home to around 40 million residents, due to the severe winter storms. On Monday, he submitted a request to the White House for a presidential emergency declaration to support ongoing storm response and recovery efforts in the state.
Since December, 12 Californians have died from storm-related impacts, including flooding, more than the number of civilians who lost their lives to wildfires in the past two years combined, according to a statement released by the governor's office.
"We are in the middle of a deadly barrage of winter storms -- and California is using every resource at its disposal to protect lives and limit damage... We are taking the threat from these storms seriously, and want to make sure that Californians stay vigilant as more storms head our way," Newsom said.
Winter storms continued to hit California with heavy rains, causing flooding, road closures and power outages in many regions across the state.
"California is expecting a stronger and more widespread atmospheric river that will bring strong winds, heavy rain, and thunderstorms," the governor's office tweeted, adding that "this is serious -- stay safe, make the necessary preparations, and limit non-essential travel."
As of Monday afternoon, nearly 100,000 homes and businesses in California were still without power. Many school districts across the region and some individual schools facing power outages have canceled classes for Monday.
The U.S. National Weather Service noted that nearly all of California has seen much above average rainfall totals over the past several weeks, with totals 400-600 percent above average values.