Terrifying flooding leaves 20 cars underwater and residents forced to flee home

03 January 2023 , 18:57

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A flash flood left 20 cars underwater and residents forced to evacuate as widespread flooding devastated parts of California, US.

Residents had to be put up in a nearby hotel after the parking garage of the block of flats in Oakland was swamped.

The New Year’s Eve deluge that swamped the West Coast state killed one person, prompted the evacuation of more than 1,000 inmates in a county jail, and even washed away a section of a levee system that protects mostly rural farmland.

One resident displaced from the block in Oakland told ABC7News through tears: "It's emotional because we went from having a home to my kids being homeless."

According to witnesses, the water was muddy brown with rubbish floating in it.

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Residents of the East Oakland apartment complex had to be evacuated (abc7news.com)

According to an email sent to people living in the apartment block, clogged storm drains caused the flood waters to rush in on New Year's Eve and will take days to pump back out.

DaVina Brown said, "I am angry. I have two cars that are gone now. I don't have no transportation. I'm displaced. I'm out of my place and I work from home."

Even after the storm moved through, major flooding occurred in agricultural areas about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Sacramento, where rivers swelled beyond their banks and inundated dozens of cars along State Route 99.

Emergency crews rescued motorists on New Year’s Eve into Sunday morning and the highway remained closed. Crews on Sunday found one person dead inside a submerged vehicle near Route 99.

A picture taken by one of the residents as she tried to get out the garage (abc7news.com)

The flooded garage beneath the block (abc7news.com)

Now Californians are bracing for more extreme weather with crews rushing to repair levees broken in the earlier flooding.

Crews hope to finish repairs before the next storm is forecasted to hit on Wednesday January 4. If they can’t, they’ll seal whatever progress they have made with plastic and sandbags and hope for the best.

A weather phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river” dumped up to five inches (12.70 centimetres) of rain in the Sacramento region, and up to a foot (30.48 centimetres) of snow in the mountains on Saturday, said Eric Kurth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

One of the cars partially flooded in the storm (abc7news.com)

In Southern California, several people were rescued after flood waters inundated cars in San Bernardino and Orange County. Thankfully no major injuries were reported there.

Many crews were left without power following the storm.

The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California as the past three years have been the state’s driest on record. Most of the state’s major reservoirs were still well below their historical averages. The one exception was Folsom Lake near Sacramento, which was at 153 percent of its historical average on Sunday.