video | After a series of storms... floods flood large parts of the US state of California, causing deaths

Weather of Arabia - A new strong storm hit California on Saturday night, forcing thousands to leave their homes and killing at least two people, in addition to the Pajaro River flooding and a dam cracking in coastal Monterey County.

#BREAKING : Life threatening flash flood emergency has been declared with evacuations ordered
⁰ #Springville | #California

A flash flood emergency has been declared early today and still continuing for Springville and Porterville CA as they are calling this a catastrophic… https://t.co/BS6HVloA2U pic.twitter.com/hdWDGKLaVe

— RAWSALERTS (@rawsalerts) March 11, 2023

Pictures posted on Twitter showed guards rescuing residents trapped in their cars due to rising water.

At least one road was damaged in Santa Cruz County, north of Monterrey. Residents of several towns, mostly in the north, were ordered to evacuate.

In Pajaro, the Fire Department and the National Guard on Saturday used drones to survey the flooded areas and search for people stranded in their homes, according to AFP correspondents.

Severe flooding wreaking havoc in California pic.twitter.com/MNbdw6a3L0

- Oman Sea Weather Portal (@Om_SeaGateWeath) March 12, 2023

For his part, US President Joe Biden approved Friday's declaration of emergency in California, paving the way for accelerating federal aid to the state.

A series of storms has been hitting California for weeks

A series of unusually severe storms has battered California for weeks, including one that killed 20 people in January.

Several regions are witnessing a largely rainy winter in recent weeks. These rains can melt part of the exceptional snow cover that has accumulated in the past three months, which may lead to an uncontrollable flow of water into the state's sewers.

And the US Meteorological Service warned that rain on “saturated soil” from winter storms and on “heavy snowpack will cause major floods.”