Gov. Newsom Adds 6 More Counties To Storm State Of Emergency Order

Governor Gavin Newsom expanded the winter storm/atmospheric river state of emergency on Sunday, adding in an additional six counties only days after it was expanded to Northern California and given federal storm emergency backing.

Since the beginning of March, Gov. Newsom has already declared two storm-related states of emergency in California. The first was due to the San Bernardino County storm in early March that caused over 100 inches of snow to fall in some areas of the County. As of Monday, 13 people have died as a result of the storms. Another storm system reaching California last week primarily in Northern California, prompted a second state of emergency declaration from the Governor, adding another 21 Counties to the state of emergency.

The storms proved to be so destructive that levees were breached in many places, along with floods, evacuations, and at least two more dead in NorCal. The situation also prompted Governor Newsom to  request a federal emergency be declared, which President Joe Biden did less than a day after receiving the request.

“The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba.” said the White House in a press release on Friday.

However, while rain is expected to continue to fall off and on in Northern and Southern California, the incoming rain systems pushed more towards Central California during the weekend, prompting the Governor to issue a new state of emergency on Sunday. Under the new order, the Counties of  Calaveras, Del Norte, Glenn, Kings, San Benito and San Joaquin will receive state storm response assistance and relief efforts.

“All operative provisions contained in my March 1, 2023, and March 8,2023, State of Emergency proclamations are hereby incorporated and applicable, as appropriate, to Calaveras, Del Norte, Glenn, Kings, San Benito, and San Joaquin counties as a result of the storms identified in this and the previous Proclamation,” said Newsom in the official proclamation.

40 of 58 Counties now under storm state of emergency

With 40 of the 58 counties of California now under the storm State of Emergency, and rain expected to continue to fall intermittently for at least the next week around the state, first responders and rescue crews have said that assistance is becoming more thinly spread and that focus areas need to be prioritized each day.

“I’m glad that we’re reacting quicker now in bringing out assistance, especially following the long waits in San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County following storms there a few weeks ago,” emergency worker Luis Stanhope told the Globe on Monday. “These storms are affecting a lot of people in California after all. But look at everything we’ve been having to do. We’ve had to help with evacuations. We’ve had to dig people and roads out of the snow. We’ve had to quickly clear roads after landslides. We’re just not used to this happening everywhere at once.”

“A lot of local cities and towns can only do so much. The same goes for counties, especially larger, more rural ones. Everyone wants state help right now, and thanks to these orders, everything is an emergency. When all of this is done, California really needs to take a look at how state emergency response is set up, because they have not been handling the constant disasters erupting hundreds of miles apart very well. Not many systems could, especially at the rate they’ve been happening recently. But we need a better plan in place. There’s a lot of people out there who still need help.”

Rain storms are expected to continue across the state intermittently for at least the next week.