After years of too little pelting , California has a decidedly unlike job on its hands : fashion , right smart too much of it . Butthe scare at the Oroville dekametre to begin with this calendar month , and themassive inundation in Los Angeles last week , pale in comparability to what the latest fusillade of wet threatens to serve up .

Today and tomorrow , California is see the wet storm of the rainy season so far — an “ atmospheric river ” that ’s await to dump two to three inch of rain throughout the Central Valley and nearly a fundament in the mountains , according tothe New York Times . regrettably , many of the rivers being inundate right now are alreadyat or near the flood tide stagethanks to heavy rainfall earlier in calendar month . saturate soils will exacerbate the risk of implosion therapy and could trigger mudslides . Fierce winding will increase the likeliness of land trees and “ retentive lasting power outage , ” the National Weather Service warn .

https://twitter.com/embed/status/833498070545358848

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

AtmosphericRiverdirecting copious moisture at#NorCal , causing hvy rain & flooding . Strong winds also expected later today.#CAwx#CAstormpic.twitter.com / Vwu9YrcyOI

— Daniel Alrick ( @SFmeteorologist)February 20 , 2017

Flash flood warningsare in effectthroughout the Bay Area and the Central Valley . The NWS in San Francisco is warning resident physician in flood - prone field to “ move to higher ground immediately , ” while NWS Sacramento notes that California “ may see flooding in position that have n’t been impacted in years . ” Residentsare advise tohave an evacuation plan in place , and be ready to leave their homes on a moment ’s observance .

William Duplessie

The pic and video rolling in on societal sensitive show river quick to overflow and hillside highways becoming impassable :

Ventura river sass this morning . Quite a lot of water system going down it.@NWSLosAngeles@SoCalWXwatcher@NWSSanDiego#CAstorm#cawxpic.twitter.com / Zoq9LeXWzZ

— FudMacks ( @FudMacks)February 20 , 2017

Starship Test 9

AlamoCreek#Vacaville#CAStorm@CBSSacramento@GoodDaySacpic.twitter.com/H4c1J8QenO

— Wendy Aguilar ( @WendyAguilarTV)February 20 , 2017

Crazy situation on Palo Colorado today , Rocky Creek is really goingpic.twitter.com/ERRX84MS1 m

Lilo And Stitch 2025

— Caitlin Conrad ( @CaitlinKSBW)February 20 , 2017

Major incline bankruptcy on Palomares Road at air mile marking 8.73 . The route is completely impassable.#CAflood#CAstormpic.twitter.com / hYqzLyVz5A

— Alameda County ( @AlamedaCounty)February 20 , 2017

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Most troublingly , this storm will once again test California ’s get on base , admit levees that control the flow of piss into the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta , preventing the state ’s freshwater supply from being foul with seawater . Meteorologist Eric Holthausminces no wordsdescribing the risk a large atmospherical river put to this vital flood control organization :

overpowering this arrangement could bring in a flood that , according toa subject area from the United States Geological Survey in 2011 , could inundate hundreds of square mile and cost hundreds of million of one dollar bill , pick apart out the water system provision for two - third of Californians in the process ; it would be the worst disaster in American history .

To be fair , this megaflood scenario — something state scientist havebeen modeling and essay to forebode for years — is improbable . And if Californians are lucky , it wo n’t come up to overhaul . But in a winterlikely to go downas the wettest on phonograph recording , in which some parts of the state havealready surpassedtheir typical annual precipitation amount , it ’d be foolish not to energize for the spoiled .

Photo: Jae C. Hong