California bracing for 'disastrous' floods, snow as latest storm hits

Parts of California braced Saturday for potentially disastrous flooding and snowfalls of up to six feet (two meters), as the latest in a damaging succession of storm systems barrels in over already water-drenched land.

Beginning early Saturday, a storm system will bring "heavy lower-elevation rain, significant mountain snow, and strong winds," the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

"Heavy rain chances will rapidly increase across California as another surge of Pacific moisture accompanies the approaching system," with a second system coming Monday, it said.

The NWS is predicting "disastrous flooding" across the lower Salinas River valley. That area, south of San Francisco, is one of the state's most productive agricultural areas.

The weather service said an additional two to three inches of rain (5.0 to 7.5 centimeters) in some areas could cause flooding and mudslides, with higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada seeing three to six feet of snow through Monday.

The most populous US state has been pummeled by near-record downpours over a very wet three weeks, causing flooding, landslides and widespread power outages.

At least 19 people are known to have died.

Hardest hit, for now, is the Salinas Valley.

On Friday, forecasters warned that the Monterey Peninsula could be cut off and the whole city of Salinas -- home to 160,000 people -- hit by disastrous flooding that could last until Sunday.

Kelley O'Connell said the bursting of a levee near her home had worried her.

"If they release water from the dams or we get more rain, we're just a field away," she told the San Francisco Chronicle as she collected sandbags.

Evacuation orders and warnings were widespread, with forecasters saying major roads could become impassable for days -- including highways linking the Monterey Peninsula with the rest of the county.

Resident John Guru said he was taking no chances, with four days' supplies at home and two days' worth in his car.

"This is crazy," he told the Monterey Herald. "I was not anticipating anything like this."

Between storms, workers have rushed out to clear up some of the mess, shoveling mud from roads even in the heart of Los Angeles and using heavy machinery to clear rockslides.

Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses have been left without power at times, sometimes repeatedly.

And forecasters say the unsettled weather in the US West -- associated with what is called an atmospheric river pattern -- is not done.

Over the mountains, heavy snow was making travel dangerous or impossible.

Among those who have died in the last three weeks were drivers found in submerged cars, people struck by falling trees, and a husband and wife killed in a rockfall.

Winter storms are not unusual in California. But global warming is making them wetter and wilder.

At the same time, the western United States has been growing more arid for years.

The latest storms are not enough to end the drought but are "making a good dent," Jay Lund, a water resources specialist at the University of California, Davis, told the Chronicle.