President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Alabama this Sunday (15), after at least nine people died in tornadoes that, in recent days, destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands of people in the US state.
The day before, Biden had approved an emergency declaration for California, which has suffered from heavy rains since December 26. Bad weather has killed at least 19 people in the state, in addition to causing landslides, power outages and road closures.
According to the White House, in California the funds will be allocated to the most affected counties – Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz. In Alabama, the Autauga and Dallas regions can utilize extra resources.
Federal assistance includes grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of climate disaster.
An impressive wave of rains — and snowfalls in the mountainous areas — devastated many areas of California, the most populous US state, whose already flooded soils are reaching the saturation point.
A new “atmospheric river” should return this Monday (16) over the state, that is, a strip of humidity that carries large amounts of water from the tropics.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that the phenomenon would bring new snowstorms and heavy rains, with possible “disastrous flooding” in the Salinas region, a major agricultural area south of San Francisco.
“The worst of it is definitely over, but there is still the threat of some further impacts from today. [domingo] at night,” said NWS meteorologist Marc Chenard, adding that he expects the end of the month to be drier.
California Governor Gavin Newsom told people on Saturday that “it’s not over” after visiting storm-affected residents. He urged residents to remain vigilant and continue to exercise “common sense over the next 24 to 48 hours”.
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