By Daniele Trotta
(Reuters) – An atmospheric river hit California with thunderstorms and hail on Monday, but spared the state serious damage as expected tornadoes did not occur.
With strong winds, the storms knocked out electricity to more than 11,000 customers, according to PowerOutage.us, flooded streets, downed trees and closed the Santa Barbara airport for the day, officials said.
At 5pm (0100 GMT), 24-hour rainfall totals reached a maximum of about 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10 cm) in areas below Mount Shasta, one of California’s highest peaks with its 14,180 feet (4,322 m).
The National Weather Service in Sacramento issued a tornado warning for parts of Plumas County and Butte County in the north of the state, but as of Monday evening the worst received in those areas was hail and severe thunderstorms, it said meteorologist Jeffrey Wood.
More significant damage was still possible as heavy rain was expected to drench much of Northern California through Tuesday and Southern California through Wednesday.
Los Angeles County could receive 3 to 5 inches of rain in the mountains and hills, the weather service said.
Even so, the effects appeared to be far less significant than those of another atmospheric river two weeks ago that dumped a year’s worth of rainfall in some areas, knocking out power to nearly 1 million customers and killing nine people.
After historic rainfall a year ago effectively ended the state’s severe drought, California is once again experiencing a wet year.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday declared a major disaster due to severe storms that inundated the San Diego area in January, freeing up federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Those rains killed three people and damaged more than 800 homes, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said.