Already deluged, California braces for another week of deadly storms

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- More heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 60 mph are expected in northern California Wednesday following several heavy atmospheric river events that drenched the state in wave after wave of powerful, deadly storms.

At least 17 people have died in the storms with damage likely exceeding a billion dollars. More than 53,000 customers still had no electricity Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us.

Those power outages are far fewer than on Tuesday, when about five times as many customers had power outages.

In Santa Cruz Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom surveyed the damage from the severe winter weather as storms were forecast to continue for at least another week. He warned that the storms will continue until Jan. 18.

The National Weather Service Sacramento said rain is returning Wednesday after an overnight break.

Tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes as the massive rains flooded the state.

President Joe Biden has declared an emergency in California as the extremely heavy rains ravaged the state with devastating mudslides and flooding.

More than half a foot more rain will fall over the next week from California to Washington state even as parts of California have already seen 3 feet of rain since Christmas.

While causing massive problems and widespread destruction, the heavy rains are also pouring water into near-depleted reservoirs, offering some drought relief.

According to ABC News, Shasta Lake was at 41% of capacity or 67% of the average storage for this date; Lake Oroville was at 85% of average storage for the date; and Folsom Lake was at 100% of the average storage.

Newsom tweeted: "Megadraughts. Wildfires. Historic floods and atmospheric rivers. The whiplash weather is not an anomaly. California is proof that the climate crisis is real and we have to take it seriously."