Pacific storm guarantees a ‘washout’ for California

Bloomberg

A powerful Pacific storm slammed into California and the Pacific Northwest bringing crashing surf, flooding rains that could touch off mudslides, and heavy snow across the region’s higher elevations.
Drenching rain has already fallen in northern California, with parts of Marin County, north of
San Francisco, getting 5.68 inches, said Scott Rowe,
a National Weather Service meteorologist. Flood, wind, and winter storm warnings stretch from the Oregon border to the central California.
“It is pretty much a slam-dunk guarantee that much of central and northern California could expect a washout on Sunday,” Rowe said. Big Pacific storms can pump as much water as the mouth of the Mississippi River when they crash ashore.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study found such events caused 84% of flood damage across 11 western states over a 40-year period. On average, they cause about $1.1 billion in damage.

The storm will continue to pump moisture into the region through Tuesday, and as much as 12 inches of rain could fall in some mountains and foothills, leading to mudslides in previously burned out areas, said Lara Pagano, a senior branch forecaster with the U.S. Weather Prediction Center.

“There could be debris flows associated with burn scars, and we have burn scars peppered through Northern California,” Pagano said.