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Epic flooding leads to water rescues and highway closures in California as the storm system threatens more states | CNN

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Epic flooding leads to water rescues and highway closures in California as the storm system threatens more states | CNN



CNN
 — 

Greater than 15 million folks from the West Coast to Wisconsin are beneath winter climate alerts Sunday because the storm system that induced life-threatening flooding in California pushes east.

Hundreds of Californians are nonetheless grappling with energy outages or impassable roads Sunday after excessive winds and record-setting rainfall battered the state.

Emergency crews in Sacramento have rescued a number of flood victims by helicopter for the reason that metropolis began getting deluged Saturday. At the very least one was “in crucial situation after exiting a car and being washed off the roadway and trapped within the chilly water,” the Sacramento Metropolitan Hearth District mentioned Sunday.

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Crews have additionally “responded to fallen timber on houses and autos, disabled autos because of drivers pushing by standing water, floodings, water rescues, and extra,” the hearth company mentioned.

The Sacramento County Workplace of Emergency Providers issued an evacuation warning Sunday to residents dwelling within the areas of Level Nice, Glanville Tract, and Franklin Pond. The company mentioned residents of these areas ought to put together to go away earlier than roadways are minimize off.

“It’s anticipated that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is transferring southwest towards I-5 and will attain these areas in the course of the night time,” the company tweeted. “Livestock within the affected areas ought to be moved to increased floor.”

In close by San Joaquin County, floodwater Sunday compelled the shutdown of all northbound lanes of a stretch of State Route 99, the California Division of Transportation’s Caltrans District 10 tweeted. “SR 99 is likely one of the state’s closely traveled, and commercially essential, corridors,” the Caltrans web site says.

Town of Oakland had its wettest day on report Saturday, with 4.75 inches of rain in a 24-hour interval – beating the earlier report set on January 4, 1982, the Nationwide Climate Service workplace in San Francisco mentioned.

The extreme climate was attributable to a strong atmospheric river – a protracted, slim area within the environment that may carry moisture 1000’s of miles, like a fireplace hose within the sky.

Now, as that very same storm system heads east, it might dump a foot of snow throughout the Sierras and as much as 2 toes of snow in elements of the Rockies by late Monday. Native forecasters warn journey may very well be troublesome.

The extreme climate, which included excessive winds, left about 235,000 houses, companies and different energy clients with out electrical energy in California and Nevada on Sunday, in response to Poweroutage.US.

The storm additionally compelled some Northern California residents out of their houses on New Yr’s Eve as streets began to flood and evacuation orders and warnings have been issued.

Along with city flooding, a number of rivers began overflowing – together with the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers and the Mormon Slough, in response to the climate service in Sacramento.

Regardless of the flooding complications, the moisture is definitely a aid for drought-stricken California – which began 2022 with the driest starting of the 12 months on report and ended the 12 months with drenched roadways and thick mountain snow.

But it surely’s not clear how a lot the storm will make a dent in California’s drought situations.

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Officers ordered residents in Wilton, California, to go away the realm instantly at one level Saturday – warning that rising water might spill onto roadways and minimize off entry to the realm. However two hours later, Wilton residents have been instructed to shelter in place after water made roads “impassable.”

Three communities close to town of Watsonville have been additionally instructed to evacuate by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Workplace because of creek flooding, whereas rising San Lorenzo River waters prompted evacuations within the communities of Paradise Park and Felton.

In San Ramon, police used an armored rescue car to evacuate residents from floodwater.

“Flooding impacts proceed to escalate as this rain continues with too many highway closures to depend at this level,” the NWS mentioned Saturday. The climate service instructed residents to remain put amid reviews of rock and mudslides throughout the foothills and highway closures throughout the Sierra passes.

Sacramento Metropolitan Hearth District crews carried out water rescues and responded to drivers whose autos turned disabled after they drove by standing water Saturday, officers mentioned.

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Calling it “Stormageddon,” the Amador County Sheriff’s Workplace shared a picture of vehicles as much as their doorhandles in floodwater.

Freeway 50 reopened simply after midnight, hours after a bit between Pollock Pines and Meyers was closed because of flooding from the American River. One other part was closed over Echo Summit for avalanche management work.

Interstate 80 was additionally partially closed close to the Nevada line Saturday “because of a number of spinouts over Donner Summit,” the California Division of Transportation mentioned.

By late Sunday morning, I-80 within the Sierra-Nevada Mountains had reopened to passenger autos solely, “with R2 chain restrictions,” California Freeway Patrol in Truckee tweeted. The restriction means chains or traction gadgets are required on all besides four-wheel-drive autos with snow tires on all 4 wheels.

“The roads are extraordinarily slick so let’s all work collectively and SLOW DOWN so we are able to hold I-80 open,” the company mentioned.

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US Freeway 101 – certainly one of California’s most well-known routes – was additionally quickly closed in each instructions in South San Francisco with the California Freeway Patrol reporting “water just isn’t receding because of continuous rainfall & excessive tides stopping the water to displace.”

Within the Sacramento County space, residents have been suggested to keep away from journey as wind gusts of as much as 55 mph toppled timber and coated roads with particles, in response to a tweet from the climate service in Sacramento.

The county proclaimed a state of emergency, saying the atmospheric river has induced “vital transportation impacts, rising creek and river ranges and flooding” within the Wilton space.

Downtown San Francisco obtained 5.46 inches Saturday, making it the second wettest day on report for the realm, in response to the weather service in the Bay Area.

This heavy rainfall is predicted to slip southward to Southern California on Sunday, accompanied by gusty winds of 30 to 50 mph.

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Whereas elements of Northern California grapple with heavy rainfall, mountainous areas are getting coated with snow.

The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported 7.5 inches of snowfall per hour between 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday in Soda Springs, about 30 miles from Lake Tahoe, and shared video of thick snow blanketing the area.

The lab mentioned it had unofficial measurements of greater than 30 inches of snow on Saturday.

Over a foot of latest snow fell at Mammoth Mountain’s Foremost Lodge on Saturday, the ski resort mentioned on Fb, including that work will happen throughout the mountain since all lifts have been coated in ice and “avalanche hazard is extraordinarily excessive.”

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Live news: Trump gives US ambassador to Israel post to ex-governor Mike Huckabee

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Live news: Trump gives US ambassador to Israel post to ex-governor Mike Huckabee

Events to look out for on Tuesday include speeches from the Federal Reserve governor, Home Depot earnings and Spotify results:

Fedspeak: Less than a week on from the central bank’s second rate cut of the year, Federal Reserve governor Chris Waller will deliver the keynote at the Clearing House Annual Conference in New York. Separately, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Tom Barkin is scheduled to speak at a summit in Baltimore. At Carnegie Mellon University, Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker will deliver a lecture on “Fintech, AI & the Changing Financial Landscape”.

Home Depot: Investors will be eager to find out whether the Federal Reserve’s back-to-back rate cuts, which will have an effect on mortgage rates, have made a difference to consumer appetite for home improvement projects. Home Depot, which last quarter cut its sales outlook on weakened consumer spending, is projected to report a 4.3 per cent increase in third-quarter revenues, to $39.3bn.

Other earnings: Tyson Foods will announce fourth-quarter earnings before the opening bell. Flutter and Spotify will post quarterly results after market close.

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Trump transition tracker: Trump nominates Mike Huckabee to be Israeli ambassador

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Trump transition tracker: Trump nominates Mike Huckabee to be Israeli ambassador

President-elect Donald Trump’s newly picked “border czar” Tom Homan addressed his forthcoming deportation plan and state leaders who have objected to sweeping immigration policies.

During an appearance on Fox News on Monday, Homan issued a warning to so-called “sanctuary” states and cities to “get the hell out of the way” of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans.

File – In this Dec. 5, 2017 file photo, then Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan at a news conference in Washington.

“I saw today numerous governors from sanctuary states saying they’re going to step in the way. They better get the hell out of the way. Either you help us or get the hell out of the way, because ICE is going to do their job,” he warned, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he formerly served as director.

“I’ll double the workforce in that sanctuary city. We’re going to do our job despite the politics. We’re doing it. So get used to it, because we’re coming,” Homan said.

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When asked if he plans to deport American citizens, Homan said, “President Trump has made it clear we will prioritize public safety threats and national security threats first, and that’s how the focus would be.”

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Germany’s Olaf Scholz defies odds as party swings behind re-election bid

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Germany’s Olaf Scholz defies odds as party swings behind re-election bid

Olaf Scholz has just pulled the plug on his coalition and lost his parliamentary majority, with polls suggesting his party will be defeated in Germany’s upcoming snap election. Yet he still looks likely to be crowned as his party’s candidate for chancellor.

The government crisis that culminated last week with Scholz calling time on the three-party alliance plunged Germany into a new phase of turbulence. But Social Democrat leaders have rallied round him, steadying his status in a party that long nurtured doubts about their chancellor.

Some Social Democrats would still prefer to see him replaced on the ballot by Boris Pistorius, the popular defence minister. But they are the minority. Most expect an SPD congress to be held in the coming weeks to anoint Scholz as the party’s Kanzlerkandidat — regardless of his approval ratings.

The support for Scholz was on full display at an emotional meeting of the SPD parliamentary group last week when he was given a standing ovation by MPs.

Jens Spahn, an MP for the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and a former health minister, described the scene as “surreal”.

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“Here is Olaf Scholz, a failed chancellor, his coalition has just broken down, he’s sacked his finance minister and his SPD thinks it’s a cause for celebration?” Spahn told the Financial Times.

The incredulity in opposition ranks increased after a television interview with Scholz on Sunday evening in which he refused to admit mistakes and, in the view of some commentators, came across as cold and unsympathetic.

Some have openly questioned why the party still backs Scholz. TV presenter Micky Beisenherz compared him to Bruce Willis in the film The Sixth Sense. He “goes to work every day even though he’s long dead,” he wrote on X. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Just months ago, Scholz’s position was precarious. Some in the SPD blamed him for the party’s slump in support, with polls putting it at between 14 and 16 per cent over the past year, way behind the CDU on 30 to 32 per cent.

Many Social Democrats wonder whether they would be better off fielding defence minister Boris Pistorius © Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

But Scholz’s standing among some of his party colleagues has paradoxically improved since the government’s collapse. They have hailed him as a hero who finally lanced the boil, ending a dysfunctional government riven by ideological conflict.

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For them, the sacking of finance minister Christian Lindner, leader of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), was the inevitable climax of months of provocation.

“There is relief that we will no longer be subjected to endless humiliation by Lindner and the FDP,” said one SPD MP.

Scholz said he fired Lindner because he refused to suspend the “debt brake” — Germany’s constitutional cap on new borrowing — to allow for more funding for Ukraine. The issue has taken on greater urgency since US voters re-elected Donald Trump, who has questioned western aid to Kyiv.

The dismissal played well in the SPD’s grassroots. “It was a kind of liberation — long overdue,” said Dirk Smaczny, head of the party’s local branch in Rheinhausen-Mitte, near the Ruhr industrial city of Duisburg. “We’ve been waiting a long time for Scholz to show strong leadership, and he finally delivered it.”

“He could have said ‘let’s just muddle through another year’,” said Johannes Fechner, a senior SPD MP. “The fact he accepted that the country needed a new government, even though it might mean he’ll lose his job — the SPD rank-and-file really respect him for that.”

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Yet Scholz remains controversial in the party. Closely associated with the labour market reforms of chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the early 2000s that alienated working-class voters, he lost his bid for the party leadership in 2019 in a humiliating defeat.

He staged a remarkable comeback two years later, running for chancellor in 2021 and winning the election. He then brought together the SPD, FDP and Greens in a coalition that was unique in Germany’s history.

But his record has been clouded by countless internal rows over economic policy that he tried — and ultimately failed — to mediate. Scholz has seen the worst approval ratings of any postwar chancellor.

On Monday two SPD politicians from the chancellor’s home town of Hamburg, Markus Schreiber and Tim Stoberock, said he should make way for the defence minister.

“Our chances of winning the election or at least performing a lot better are much greater with [Pistorius], who has long been Germany’s most popular politician,” they wrote on Instagram.

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Scholz spent too much time cobbling together compromises “in technocratic language” which were then rejected by his coalition partners. “We believe the negative image the people in this country have of him can no longer be repaired,” they wrote.

Privately, some SPD lawmakers agreed that Pistorius might be a better bet. “But politics doesn’t work like that,” said one. “Scholz’s huge strategic advantage is that he holds the reins of power. He’s the one who took this step. He’s the one who announced early elections. That gives him a certain strength.”

Scholz has shown no inclination to stand aside — nor does he intend to put his candidacy to a party vote.

His spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit on Monday defended the absence of a formal selection process, saying there was no need — and also no time.

“First of all, he’s the natural candidate because he’s chancellor,” he told reporters. “Secondly, look at the clock . . . We’re going to have snap elections quite soon, if he loses the confidence vote. We all need to focus on that right now, and you can understand why.”

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Observers said that approach made sense, especially in light of what just happened in the US.

Wolfgang Schroeder, a political scientist at Kassel University, noted that the Democrats had hoped to improve their fortunes by substituting Joe Biden for Kamala Harris just months before the election.

“It injected some momentum, but it didn’t turn out to be long-lasting or effective,” he said. “For that reason I would advise the SPD against carrying out any grand experiments right now.”

MPs from the opposition CDU say that suits them, predicting that Scholz will be soundly beaten by their leader Friedrich Merz. “Olaf Scholz is the face of failure,” said CDU’s Spahn. “As such, we couldn’t wish for a better opponent.”

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