<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">A bomb cyclone smashed into California on Wednesday, bringing powerful winds and torrential rain that was expected to cause flooding in areas already saturated by consecutive storms.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Authorities issued ominous warnings of threats to life and property for a vast stretch of the most populous US state, focused around San Francisco and Sacramento.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Forecasters said gusts of up to 70 miles (110 kilometers) an hour and intense rain could pummel the region through Wednesday, with the downpour continuing into Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meteorologists at the National Weather Service said there could be "widespread flooding, roads washing out, hillsides collapsing, trees down, widespread power outages, immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency "to support response and recovery efforts," while San Francisco established an Emergency Operations Center.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bars and restaurants were shuttered as the city girded for the storm, with local media showing flooded roads, and reports of long delays on public transport.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dozens of flights in and out of the city were cancelled or delayed, while around 60,000 homes were without power, according to the PowerOutage.us website.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thousands of sandbags were distributed to residents fearful of flooding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"We're very worried about it," Deepak Srivastava told CBS in San Francisco.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"(I) just spent all day putting sandbags in front of the garage at every entering point and we're just crossing our fingers and hoping we won't have more damage."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">City officials said they were working around the clock to try to help people prepare.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We've been working very hard to source sandbags from wherever we can in northern California," said Rachel Gordon, of the city's public works department.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But she warned residents need to take the storm seriously.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If you don't have to be out in San Francisco, please don't be out on the roads."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The intense rain was brought about by a combination of a bomb cyclone -- a sudden steep drop in air pressure -- and an atmospheric river, where moisture-laden air is drawn in from the oceans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of rain were expected in the Bay Area, with double that amount over nearby hills.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sierra Nevada mountain range was forecast to get up to four feet (1.2 meters) of snow.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Several storms' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The downpours come on top of a series of storms that have brought near-record rainfall over recent weeks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On New Year's Eve, parts of northern California were lashed by a storm that caused landslides and power outages, as levees were breached and roadways were flooded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least one person is known to have died after being trapped in a submerged car.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">San Francisco recorded almost 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) of rain on December 31, the city's second wettest day in recorded history.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The waterlogging caused by those previous storms would exacerbate the danger of this one, meteorologist Matt Solum told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This storm alone without the previous storms would cause localized flooding concerns and rock slides and mudslide concerns," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"But with the recent wet conditions, a lot of the rainfall that's already fallen has already saturated the ground so any additional rainfall is going to run off instead of soak into the ground."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While it is difficult to draw a straight line to this storm from human-caused climate change, scientists say a warmer planet brings more unstable weather, with more ferocious storms as well as longer, hotter dry periods.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The western United States is in the grip of a decades-long drought, with below-average precipitation leaving river and reservoir levels worryingly low.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Solum said while any rain is helpful in alleviating the drought -- a long-term issue -- these back-to-back storms can be destructive because there is nowhere for the water to go.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's just the compounding impact of all the storms is what's going to be the most impactful," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Typically, we don't see this many series of storms with this much heavy rain."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And there is more to come.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's definitely going to continue," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are expecting another one over the weekend. And then another several storms potentially for next week. And even possibly the following week as well." AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>