Bomb cyclone smashes into California; state of emergency declared by the governor
California
A day after weather forecasters warned that California may face 'brutal' weather conditions, a bomb cyclone smashed into the western US state on Wednesday.
The cyclone brought with it torrential rains that could drown the region, already battered with consecutive storms on New Year's Eve, that caused power outages and roadways to flood.
The powerful winds blew around 70 kilometres an hour and could very well continue into Thursday morning.
State authorities have requested the residents to avoid any kind of non-essential travel on Wednesday night and Thursday morning as the storm reaches its peak.
The residents, however,remain fearful of the storm. "We had a similar flood just last October... they call it a 100-year storm, but sounds like we might have two of those in one week," Deepak Srivastava, a San Francisco citizen was quoted as saying by AFP.
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Accessing the gravity of the situation, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to pool resources for 'response and recovery efforts'.
An emergency operations centre has also been established in the city of San Francisco to oversee the entire operation.
The residents are being offered thousands of sandbags in case there is flooding.
"We've been working very hard to source sandbags from wherever we can in northern California," said a Public Works department official.
What is a bomb cyclone?
A bomb cyclone occurs when atmospheric pressure plummets to low levels. A cyclone is categorised as a bomb cyclone when the pressure drop is 24 millibars (a unit of pressure) within 24 hours.
WATCH | WION Climate Tracker: Climate change will make 'bomb cyclones' more frequent
Frigid temperatures and destructive winds have accompanied the winter storms in the US, much before the holiday season began.
Americans are experiencing huge power outages amid the blizzard circumstances. The bone-chilling weather forced thousands to cancel holiday get-togethers as airlines could not operate the planes during the inclement weather.
(With inputs from agencies)
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