California Hit With 11th Atmospheric River Transcript

… could cause big problems to our North, but the National Weather Service calling it a direct threat to life and property.

CBSA political reporter, Morgan Rynor, is finding out what several state emergency agencies are doing to try to keep us safe with this round. Morgan?

Yeah, Cal OES is hard at work around the clock, coordinating with law enforcement and other first responders across the state. A spokesperson told me it’s like a constant chess match, trying to figure out the best place to move and station crews right now.

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The continuous rain and snow melt is having a major impact on communities up and down the state.

We have 40 of our 58 counties that are under a state of emergency right now. So it’s really all hands on deck across the entire state.

Across California, there are 16 different rivers above flood stage.

We have 27,000 people that are under evacuation orders right now. That number is changing all the time and very well could go up throughout the day as we see this next brunt of the system come through.

Swollen creeks and rivers leaving levees at the breaking point.

We’ve seen some of the levees that have broken across the state and Monterey County is certainly the biggest example of that right now. We’re seeing rains at a level that we haven’t seen in 30, 40, 50 years.

Cal OES is at the center of it all at the State Operation Center, coordinating the National Guard, CHP, Caltrans and Cal Fire.

We’re looking at about 28 total incidents that Cal Fire Resources are committed to right now, with about 41 active missions that we’re supporting.

Each agency ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

With a wildfire, we try and stop the wildfire as soon as we can. With this, we know we can’t stop this storm. It is coming in with its full force. We’re trying to anticipate where the greatest need’s going to be. We are prepositioning resources in those areas, whether it’s a high water vehicle with the California National Guard, some of their heavy kilos that we can use for rescue efforts.

This is the 11th atmospheric river the state has been hit with in the last few months. There’s actually a bill that just passed through a committee today that will put state funding towards studying atmospheric rivers to optimize water management, increased storage, and reduce flood risk.

Morgan Rynor reporting live from Sacramento. Morgan, thank you.