Storm in California leaves thousands without power, more rough weather ahead

By Trend

Torrential downpours and damaging winds left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power in northern California on Friday even as the area braced for the next onslaught of severe weather later in the day and through the weekend, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The next system of heavy downpours was expected to dump 3 to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain on the region, potentially causing scattered flash flooding and mudslides in areas where the soil was already saturated, the National Weather Service (NWS) said in its forecast.

Much of the northern two-thirds of California, the most populous state in the nation, was under flood, gale-force wind and winter storm warnings on Friday as forecasters urged residents to prepare for flooding and to stay off the roads.

In addition to heavy rains, one to three feet of snow was expected to fall during the weekend in the Sierras, where snow accumulations of a foot to 18 inches or more were measured earlier this week, the weather service said.

The ominous forecast comes on the heels of a massive Pacific storm that unleashed high winds, torrential rains and heavy snow across the region for two days. As of Friday morning, some 60,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of the weather, according to data from Poweroutages.us.