Storm Emergency

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency Monday. He ordered California to prepare for a historic winter of El Niño storms.

Federal forecasters put the odds at 98% that El Niño will stay very strong through December, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Los Angeles Times reported. The agency estimates a 75% chance this event becomes the strongest on record since 1950.

Damage has already started. Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Carlsbad declared local emergencies last week after a south swell tied to Hurricane Marie chewed away beaches, the Los Angeles Times reported. Homes flooded from south Orange County to Malibu. The coast eroded from Carlsbad to Long Beach.

In Carlsbad, crews are racing to stabilize a bluff along South Carlsbad Boulevard after inspectors found cracks in the pavement, according to Mundonow. The city's plan calls for a 192-foot rock barrier to hold the cliff and the road above it.

Scientists tie the risk to a warming planet. A study published last month in the journal Science found El Niño events now run more than 36% stronger than before the industrial era, a trend that has sped up over the last four decades, the governor's office said.

The emergency order directs state agencies to stage sandbags and pumps, position Caltrans crews for road closures and snow removal, and ready the California National Guard for flood response and search-and-rescue missions. State resource agencies will fast-track permits for local flood, landslide and debris-flow projects.

"We are not waiting for this season's storms to be on our doorstep," said Cal OES Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs.

Off Mexico's coast, an El Niño-driven ocean surge known as a coastally trapped Kelvin wave is moving toward the U.S. West Coast, the Los Angeles Times reported. Forecasters expect more damaging storms through the winter.

Orange County has activated its emergency operations center, a step required once two cities in the county declare local emergencies.

Newsom framed the order around the people it's meant to protect. "California is strongest when we look out for one another," he said. "That is what this action is about. Giving communities the support they need, giving first responders the tools to do their jobs, and giving families the confidence that their state is ready."