California Storm Shuts Roads; More Than 260,000 Without Power, Thousands Under Evacuation Orders

Hundreds of thousands of Californians are without power as of Tuesday night, and nearly 27,000 have been placed under evacuation orders as landslide and flooding risks due to an ongoing storm hound the drenched state. Multiple state routes have also been closed due to slides, fallen trees and flooding.

The evacuation orders started coming at around 8 a.m. in Santa Barbara County in wildfire-ravaged areas that increased the risk of flash floods and debris flows, the Associated Press reported.

Also on Tuesday morning, more than 71,600 people were placed under evacuation warnings and more than 540 people were transported to shelters.

In Anderson City, the Anderson Police Department issued an evacuation warning Tuesday night for residents living west of Highway 273 between 3^rd St. and Pinon Avenue. "This warning is due to rising water levels in the A.C.I.D canal along with further projected heavy rains," the APD said in a Facebook advisory.

Over in Monterey County, more than 10,000 residents have been placed under evacuation orders and warnings due to increased concerns about rising water levels in the Salinas River, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) is expecting "considerable impacts from heavy rain" to ensue for portions of the southern California coasts and South-central coasts through late Tuesday night.

Officials are also expecting snowmelt and heavy rain in the terrain below about 5,000 feet "to result in widespread flooding into Wednesday," especially in low elevations and areas with warming snow piles.

"Even a small amount of rain could potentially have larger impacts," said Shaunna Murray of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, 261,170 customers were without power in California, according to outage tracker poweroutage.us. The majority of the customers without power are those whose provider is the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

A few thousand customers are with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Southern California Edison, while the rest are with the Palo Alto Utilities Department, the Lassen Municipal Utility District, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Pacific Power, San Diego Gas & Electric, Liberty Utilities and Glendale Water and Power.

Dozens of areas across the state are under flood-related watches, including Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Trinity, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Kern, Ventura and Mariposa. Some of the advisories are expiring Thursday, while others are in place until further notice from the National Weather Service (NWS).

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has also shut down several routes and highways due to flooding, including Route 175 and State Route 1 in Mendocino.

Route 36 in Humboldt is fully closed, with no estimated time of reopening.

Several other routes have been closed either due to a slide, fallen trees and poles, or large amounts of snow on the roadway.

California has been suffering from heavy rains since the start of the year following a series of atmospheric rivers that killed at least 19 people after Christmas Day.