California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday proclaimed a state of emergency in areas ravaged by heavy storms.
In proclaiming the state of emergency, the governor said he has determined that "conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property" continue to exist.
The governor's emergency proclamation allowed the state Office of Emergency Services (OES) to deploy additional emergency personnel, equipment and facilities and to provide local government assistance under the authorities of the California Disaster Assistance Act.
Since Jan. 3, extreme winds and heavy storms have hit Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts in the state.
"It is anticipated that as the storms continue to progress through the state and damage information is analyzed, more counties will declare local emergencies," the governor said in a statement.
He said he has directed all state agencies to utilize all their personnel, equipment and facilities to assist local government in coordination with the OES to provide eligible assistance available under the authorities of the California Disaster Assistance Act.
In the past two days, the storms have left more than 1 million households without power, grounded flights and overturned trucks as wind gusted to 80 mph.
The storms also have sent trees crashing onto houses, cars and roads.
In the Los Angeles County, about one to three inches of rain fell in most areas, with as much as six to seven inches of rain in the mountains and foothills.
About 15,000 households in the Los Angeles area were without power on Saturday as crews worked around the clock to restore service. Most of the outages were due to downed power lines affected by 40 to 60 mph wind gusts.
On Friday night and early Saturday, storm-related problems included transformer fires and wires knocked down by falling trees or high winds, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said.
But the biggest problems so far have occurred to Northern California, where 40 miles (about 64 kilometers) of power lines and 105 power poles were damaged Friday.
About 430,000 Northern California homes still had no power Saturday. Utility companies said some could be without power into next week.
Flash flood warnings came into effect on Saturday for broad swaths of Southern California, including most parts of Los Angeles County and southeastern Santa Barbara County.
The state opened its emergency operations center Friday to coordinate storm response.
The disaster prompted Schwarzenegger to speak with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff by phone to seek federal assistance, according to local press reports.
Forecasters said the first wave of the storm would bring scattered showers through Saturday evening, when the next wave is expected to hit the region. The heaviest rain, however, was expected to hit the southeast in San Diego County.
Source:Xinhua
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