California, where more than 100,000 homes remained without power on Sunday after powerful storms, could still face flooding and mudslides in some areas through yesterday, weather officials said.
The US National Weather Service said flood watches were in effect through early yesterday for southern California and the central coast, particularly in areas hit last year by wildfires.
"The hillsides are so saturated in the burn areas, that even if we don't see as much rain, it could cause mudslides and flooding," said Carol Singleton, a spokeswoman for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
PHOTO: AP
Singleton said more than 100,000 northern California homes remained without power one day after nearly 3 million people experienced power disruptions statewide due to powerful storms that battered three western states.
"Certainly the storm has wound down for the Sierra Nevada [Mountains] and the focus has now shifted to Southern California," US National Weather Service spokeswoman Jane Hollingsworth said.
The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services reported two confirmed storm-related fatalities in California on Saturday.
Singleton said 25 utility crews were on loan from San Diego county to help with utility restoration in northern California.
Near Reno, Nevada, on Saturday, a canal levee broke, flooding an estimated 800 homes and causing some 3,500 residents to evacuate by helicopter and boat, a Nevada Department of Public Safety spokesman said.
Hundreds of homes sat in as much as 2.5m of water following the canal rupture as freezing weather spread sheets of ice over yards and streets, hindering efforts to get the water to drain away.
Nearly 300 homes were damaged when the canal's bank gave way following heavy rainfall produced by the West Coast storm system that had piled snow as much as 3m deep in the Sierra Nevada.
Thousands of homes were blacked out across the West and many of them in California could remain in the dark for days because nearly 800km of power lines were down, officials said on Sunday.
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