Californians are bracing for a second round of intense rain and “life-threatening” flooding this weekend.
The National Weather Service for California’s Bay Area has issued a flood watch Saturday through Monday, while the NWS for Los Angeles is forecasting up to 15 inches of rain Saturday through Wednesday. “Life threatening” flooding is also possible in southern California, forecasters said.
This weekend’s storm could intensify as it approaches the coast of California, a process called bombogenesis in which a spinning low-pressure system rapidly deepens, according to the Associated Press. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations centre and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk from the weather.
This weekend’s rain will be the result of a second atmospheric river hitting the West Coast. The first atmospheric river — named the “Pineapple Express,” so called because it originates near Hawai’i in the tropical Pacific — hit the Pacific Northwest and much of California mid-week, causing flash flooding and mudslides throughout the region.
The Pineapple Express system made landfall on Wednesday, causing heavy mountain snow, gusty winds and Rockslides in northern California. In Saratoga, one person was injured after a tree fell on a house, according to the National Weather Service.