SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not often California that is the subject of news stories about weather during winter. However, on Wednesday an epic storm, the latest of a series of atmospheric rivers, hit the state's coastline, taking at least two lives.

Local fire and police officials confirmed that a 19-year-old woman living in Fairfield north from San Francisco, died after the vehicle she was driving hit an electric pole. A 2-year-old child died when a tree fell onto an Occidental mobile home which is located within Sonoma County.

The storm caused flooding on streets throughout San Jose and forced evacuations in Santa Barbara and Oakland. More than 180,000 electric customers in California were in power outages at the time of last count as per PowerOutage.us, which is a website that tracks outages. It destroyed a huge canopy that was over a gas station located in South San Francisco and unleashed the slide of a rock that blocked the northbound roadways of Highway 101 in Mendocino County even as rescue teams located in Sacramento County were recovering bodies of the storm that hit the area last weekend.

Businesses, schools, and parks were shut down, and Governor. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency across the state to help more swiftly respond to a storm.

"We believe that this could be among the most difficult and significant series of storms to come down in California in the past 5 years,"" declared Nancy Ward who is the new Director of Governor's Office for emergency services. She took over from the state's former chief of emergency services just five days ago.

This atmospheric storm, likely to last until Thursday it is the third storm to roar across in the Golden State in less than two weeks. Another storm is predicted for the weekend.

Normally, rain amounts similar to those predicted this week would not be a major issue. However, the ground in a large portion in the State is saturated by previous storms and charred by wildfires making it more prone to runoff and flooding.

The Mission District in San Francisco the doors of apartment structures, cafes and restaurants were surrounded by Sandbags as rain started to increase Wednesday evening. In the course of the weekend, many roads and shops in the neighborhood that is low was flooded, with water pools over a foot on the streets. Refrigerators and other appliances that were on display in repair shops began to disappear on the Saturday.

Zoe Williams, sales director Zoe Williams, sales director for Three Babes Bakeshop, next to the repair shop, stared at the pouring rain in the window of her store on Wednesday. The bakery also experienced flooding with several inches of rain on Saturday. the water started to rise up the drains, but staff removed it, cleaned the shop and then quickly restored the store.

The night before, Williams and her co-workers were crossing their fingers the shop would get through this latest storm unharmed. Prior to heading to bed the team piled sandbags on the doorway, she said she added, "It's kind of a wait and watch."

California generally receives the majority of its annual rain during the winter months, however these many storms that are sweeping across quickly can cause much more damage than good. The big storms that are sweeping through these clusters could be increasing in frequency due to climate change -- can deliver excessive water at a rapid pace to the reservoirs of California as well as emergency response personnel to manage, the Times' Raymond Zhong reported.

"It's very helpful if storms were so considerate to spread them by a week or two apart to allow for the water to flow through the system" Jeanine Jones, an official from the state of California's Department of Water Resources, explained to him.

Despite the risks however, certain Californians are still thankful for any precipitation after dry months. The past three years have been most dry in more than 150 years of Californian history.

Don Bransford, who has an agricultural property north from Sacramento located in Colusa County, saw potential relief from the destruction of the last year's drought destroyed his land and reduced the amount of rice he grew from around 1,800 acres to nothing. Don Cameron, who grows products like carrots, vino grapes within the south of San Joaquin Valley, said he didn't mind the fact that he needed to purchase pumps to drain water from hundreds of areas of onion.

"This is truly a blessing," Cameron said, "just to watch these storms coming together and pounding California right on."

Tell us how the storm impacting you? Contact us by emailing vivekwebediting@gmail.com with your personal stories and pictures.

For more details:

Where we’re traveling

Today's advice is directly from Doris Bowen, who recommends visiting the city's largest park:

"I frequent San Francisco often, and I'm blessed to live just a few block within Golden Gate Park. It is full of beautiful things to see! The park has museums, a Ferris-wheel as well as the band shell (often featuring free performances) Fountains as well as the Conservatory of Flowers, many different meadows and gardens and a huge lake perfect for bird watching and boating windmill, as well as numerous trails. It even has a softball pitch that has plenty of benches to relax on and watch the games. In fact, there's something for everyone at the park. One of the major roads that are in Park (J.F.K. Drive) is closed to traffic through and is accessible to bicyclists, walkers, and everybody else. If you'd like to explore the entire long distance of the park begin at the eastern end of the park and walk all the way to the ocean. It's about 3 miles all downhill. You might even meet the bison! Returning home, you can take the Muni train or bus. In the end, you should spend time enjoying the beautiful urban park."

Let us know about your top destinations to visit throughout California. Email your suggestions to vivekwebediting@gmail.com. We'll feature more suggestions in future editions of the newsletter.

And before you go, some good news

The New York Times recently released an article about Tom Brady -- sort of.

Brady the football player is 45 years old that puts him within the top 1 percent in terms of age quarterbacks who start their careers. The Times interviewed people who are the same age in their professions like Brady has in histhat is the oldest one percent of people working and across a wide range of careers.

The Times spoke to a teacher of biology at the age of 72 of the Cal State University of Northridge. A composer aged 88 who lives in the Central Coast. In Los Angeles County, a 70-year-old paramedicis a position where the median age is 33.

A paramedic Jesse Izaguirre, works for two 24 hour shifts per week to transport patients around Los Angeles. He is constantly between the ambulance. According to his story which The New York Times could not independently verify, the nurses believe that he's in his 50s.

"Some people inquire, 'When will you retire when you'll retire?" Izaguirre told The Times. "I suggest"First foremost, it's nothing of your matter.'" He laughed. "I'm kidding. I'll be honest with them about anything. When will I end my career? I would like to retire as soon as possible, but hopefully not."

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. This is today's Mini Crossword.

Briana Scalia and Isabella Grullon Paz contributed to California Today. Contact the team via vivekwebediting@gmail.com.

Join us here to receive this newsletter delivered to your email inbox .
http://www.dream11today.com/another-atmospheric-river-arrives-in-california/