Flights cancelled, no electricity as California braces for brutal storm: Updates

California ordered evacuations in a high-risk coastal area as a huge storm into the state brought high winds and heavy rainfall, knocking out electricity and causing floods.

The emergency was declared by California governor Gavin Newsom in order to allow quick response in the state as it still recovers from a powerful storm that hit days earlier.

Here are top updates on storm in California:

The storm has already left more than 76,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area and nearly 19,000 more along the Central Coast without electricity.

Dozens of flights out of San Francisco have been canceled and some schools have also cancelled classes for students.

In Northern California, residents have been warned to stay off the roads as the new director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Nancy Ward warned, “We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years.”

The storm is one of three atmospheric river storms in the last week to reach the state.

In Southern California, the storm is expected to peak in intensity overnight. Santa Barbara and Ventura counties are likely to see the most rain, forecasters predicted.

The storm was forecast to drop up to 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) of rain.

Although, the storms in total won’t be enough to officially end the state’s ongoing drought, now entering its fourth year, US drought monitor said.

California has been facing a severe drought from the past four years.

Earlier, heavy rainfall on New Year’s eve in the state led to the evacuations of people in rural Northern California.