Evacuations ordered as California braces for rain, floods

Officials in California ordered evacuations in a high-risk coastal area where mudslides killed 23 people in 2018 as a huge storm barreled into the state on Wednesday, bringing high winds and rain that threatened to knock out power and flood roadways.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to allow for a quick response and to aid in cleanup from another powerful storm that hit just days earlier. Dozens of flights out of San Francisco were canceled, and schools in one of the city’s suburbs preemptively canceled Thursday classes. Officials warned people throughout Northern California to stay off the roads.
“We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years,” said Nancy Ward, the new director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.