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Pacific storm dumps heavy rains, unleashes flooding in 2 California coastal cities
PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) — A Pacific storm pounded parts of Southern California on Thursday with heavy rain and street flooding, adding to hassles as holiday travel got underway.
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PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) — A Pacific storm pounded parts of Southern California on Thursday with heavy rain and street flooding, adding to hassles as holiday travel got underway.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2023 (1044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) — A Pacific storm pounded parts of Southern California on Thursday with heavy rain and street flooding, adding to hassles as holiday travel got underway.
The early morning downpours targeted coastal Ventura County, just to the northwest of Los Angeles County, swamping areas in the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme.
Rainfall rates exceeded 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) an hour as flash-flooding occurred, the National Weather Service said.
People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The city of Port Hueneme issued evacuation orders for residences on four streets and warned of potential evacuations on four other streets. An evacuation center was set up at a college gymnasium.
The city of Oxnard said in a social media post that many streets and intersections were heavily impacted. “Please stay off the city streets for the next several hours until the water recedes,” the post said.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Oxnard and the city of Ventura at 1:28 a.m. due to a high-intensity thunderstorm, but no tornado activity was immediately observed, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.
The storm swept through Northern California earlier in the week as the center of the low-pressure system slowly moved south off the coast. Forecasters described it as a “cutoff low,” a storm that is cut off from the general west-to-east flow and can linger for days, increasing the amount of rainfall.
The system was producing hit-and-miss bands of precipitation rather than generalized widespread rainfall. Forecasters said the low would wobble slightly away from the coast on Thursday, drawing moisture away and allowing some sunshine, but will return.
In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)
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The San Diego-area weather office warned that rather than fizzling, the storm was gathering energy and its main core would move through that region overnight through Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Californians were gearing up for holiday travel and finishing preparations for Christmas. The Automobile Club of Southern California predicted 9.5 million people in the region would travel during the year-end holiday period.
The Northeast was hit with an unexpectedly strong storm earlier this week, and some parts of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont were still digging out from rain and wind damage. Parts of Maine along the Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers were hit especially hard.
Flood waters were receding throughout northern New England, though some localized areas were still in the flood stage, said Jon Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Flood warnings were also still in effect in parts of Maine and New Hampshire, he said.
At least one person was still missing in Maine, where at least three people died as a result of the storm. The storm cut power to 400,000 customers in Maine, and restoration was still underway Thursday morning.
A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)In this photo provided by Mammoth Lakes Tourism, people walk in the snow in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. A foot of snow has fallen at the resort and all base areas are open. Forecasters are warning of potential flooding from excessive rainfall as a slow-moving Pacific storm blows into California. (Samantha Lindberg/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)A man walks his dogs near Steamer Lane as storm clouds approach in Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco, Calif., flood during a storm Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Workshops have always been an integral part of the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
They are magic-moment makers; a curated group of musicians — sometimes friends, sometimes strangers — on one stage playing together, supporting each other, creating something that will only exist for an hour or two. No one knows what will come out of the collaboration, but usually it’s something special.
When the Free Press spoke to Winnipeg Folk Festival artistic director Chris Frayer ahead of the lineup release in early March, he noted he would be paying some extra attention to workshops this year, as some of the special projects occurring during the past couple of festivals had pulled some of his attention away.
And with 37 workshops on the books, it would seem he followed through on his promise.
In a Winnipeg winter, there are always at least two certainties: it will be cold, and it will snow. A third certainty: the people will talk endlessly about how frigid the temperature is, and argue about how much snow is cloaking their driveways. Is it colder than it ever has been? Is there more snow today than the same time last year?
Rob Paola likely knows the answers to those questions.
Paola possesses no super powers. He is but a man with a metre stick and 40 years of professional meteorological experience, in the midst of a lifelong love affair with Mother Nature, a most turbulent mistress who rarely, if ever, reciprocates.
Each year when snow begins to fall, Paola heads outside his Charleswood home to figure out how much. He sticks his ruler in the ground, grabs his clipboard, and clicks his pen. In neat script, he records the temperature, what time precipitation began, how deep the powder is stacked. Then, he shares his data and insights online with thousands of followers who want a clear answer to the eternal questions: Why is this happening? When will it stop? How much snow has fallen in the city of Winnipeg?
A citizen-led coalition has urged the Public Utilities Board to order Manitoba Public Insurance to lower its rates, which it says would force the Crown corporation to tackle rising claims costs.
The Consumers Coalition described MPI as “risk-averse,” at a hearing this week to discuss its application for a rate increase.
“The last three (general rate applications) have demonstrated that the corporation is running out of ideas and tools to mitigate rate increases and are executing a strategic plan grounded in their legacy business model,” said Katrine Dilay, a lawyer for the Public Interest Law Centre who spoke on behalf of the coalition.
Dilay said the coalition believes MPI is riding out the cost pressures and passing them on to ratepayers rather than preparing for the future.
Throughout Winnipeg, decades-old community assets — pools, arenas and recreation and leisure centres — are deteriorating so quickly that service disruptions are inevitable.
Meanwhile, the city’s community services department, which is responsible for managing those assets, operates with an annual deficit of roughly $80 million, meaning there are scant resources to do little more than bail water on a sinking ship.
Soon, Winnipeggers will have a choice: fewer community services or higher costs.
“It poses a huge challenge because we have very limited dollars that we have to invest in our existing facilities. We also have growing demands for new amenities in new areas. We have to be very strategic,” said Ken McKim, manager of asset management for the department.
The Canadian Press4 minute readSunday, Jul. 25, 2021
Correctional Services Canada is reopening prison farms. But in B.C., where it has no such programs, a wife and her late husband, who killed a man in a botched holdup, started Emma’s Acres, a unique prison farm she hopes to see expanded.
Garden Valley School Division is working to restore its computer systems after a cybersecurity incident disrupted its network, including its phone systems, earlier this week.
The southern Manitoba school division confirmed Thursday on its website that network disruptions first reported last Sunday were the result of a cybersecurity incident affecting its IT infrastructure.
In an email, superintendent Dan Ward said the phone system was “quickly restored.”
“Our teams have been working around the clock since the incident’s discovery to restore our systems and minimize the impact on staff and students,” Ward said in an emailed statement.
