This aerial photograph shows two individuals standing in a small patch of road emerging from floodwaters in Pajaro, California on Saturday, March 11, 2023. - Residents were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night after an atmospheric river surge broke the the Pajaro Levee and sent flood waters flowing into the community. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
This aerial photograph shows two individuals standing in a small patch of road emerging from floodwaters in Pajaro, California on Saturday, March 11, 2023. - Residents were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night after an atmospheric river surge broke the the Pajaro Levee and sent flood waters flowing into the community. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
This aerial photograph shows two individuals standing in a small patch of road emerging from floodwaters in Pajaro, California on Saturday, March 11, 2023. - Residents were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night after an atmospheric river surge broke the the Pajaro Levee and sent flood waters flowing into the community. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
This aerial photograph shows two individuals standing in a small patch of road emerging from floodwaters in Pajaro, California on Saturday, March 11, 2023. - Residents were forced to evacuate in the m

California braces for more flooding as snow rapidly melts


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At least two people have died in California after melting snow in the rocky mountains and rain caused flash flooding and burst the levee of a river.

The coastal area of Monterey county was inundated after the Pajaro river overflowed, leading authorities to call for the area to be evacuated.

Millions of people across the state are on alert for flooding due to recent heavy rain, in addition to the rapidly melting snow.

Parts of the state have been hit by a weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river, a large plume of warm water vapour that can stretch for hundreds of kilometres and cause prolonged rainfall.

  • A flooded road in Pajaro, California, where heavy rains and melting snow have forced thousands to leave their homes. All photos: AFP
    A flooded road in Pajaro, California, where heavy rains and melting snow have forced thousands to leave their homes. All photos: AFP
  • Volunteers and emergency services workers have been helping thousands of residents to leave flooded areas
    Volunteers and emergency services workers have been helping thousands of residents to leave flooded areas
  • A resident carries his dog from their flooded home in the Pajaro area of Watsonville, California
    A resident carries his dog from their flooded home in the Pajaro area of Watsonville, California
  • At least two people have died amid the heavy rains and floods
    At least two people have died amid the heavy rains and floods
  • An unusually intense series of storms has battered California for weeks
    An unusually intense series of storms has battered California for weeks
  • A pick-up truck navigates a flooded road
    A pick-up truck navigates a flooded road
  • A flooded shop
    A flooded shop
  • Floodwaters submerge the road into Pajaro
    Floodwaters submerge the road into Pajaro
  • More rains are forecast and authorities have raised alerts
    More rains are forecast and authorities have raised alerts
  • Flooded homes, in Pajaro
    Flooded homes, in Pajaro

“We were hoping to avoid and prevent this situation, but the worst case scenario has arrived with the Pajaro River overtopping and levee breaching at about midnight,” Luis Alejo, a Monterey County supervisor, said on Twitter.

Moses, a resident of the area for about 20 years, said: “Just the noise of the fire department — their sirens and all — woke us up.”

Officials later came and knocked on his door multiple times, but he decided to wait until 5am to make a decision.

After returning home from surveying the flooding, Moses, who preferred to give only his first name, said water was beginning to cover his street.

“That's when I told my wife, 'hey, we got to get out of here,'” he said.

The area remained under a flood warning on Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

On Friday night, state emergency services director Nancy Ward announced that the storm had already claimed at least two lives.

Images posted on Twitter by the state's National Guard account showed guardsmen rescuing residents trapped in cars by high water.

At least one road was washed away in Santa Cruz County, just north of Monterey. Soquel, also in Santa Cruz, was also badly flooded and CBS reported that about 9,000 people had been evacuated there.

Residents in several towns, mostly in the north, have been ordered to evacuate.

An unusually intense series of storms has battered California for weeks.

The latest storm was expected to dump as much as 23 centimetres of rain on already saturated ground.

Atmospheric river

Part of a powerful atmospheric river known as a “Pineapple express” — for the warm, subtropical moisture it brings from Hawaii — this latest storm will speed the melting of the enormous snowpack that has built up in higher elevations.

The resulting run-off threatens to aggravate already serious flooding.

In Pajaro on Saturday, the fire department and national guard used drones to survey the flooded areas, checking for people stranded in their homes, AFP reporters saw.

Two cousins, Angel Martinez and Christian Garcia, waded through the water carrying a plastic bag of food salvaged from the kitchen.

They told AFP their neighbourhood was a “wreck,” with water one-metre deep in their backyard.

They were only able to grab phone chargers, some blankets and a first aid kit when they hastily evacuated.

US President Joe Biden on Friday approved an emergency declaration that clears the way to expedite federal aid to the western state.

Mr Biden called Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday to reaffirm full federal support for the impact of flooding and landslides on the state, a White House pool report said.

Mr Newsom said California was “deploying every tool we have to protect communities from the relentless and deadly storms battering our state.”

Storms in January were blamed for the loss of 20 lives.

Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

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Tank warfare

Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks. 

“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.

“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS

JOURNALISM 

Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica

Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.

Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post

Local Reporting  
Staff of The Baltimore Sun

National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica

and    

Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times

International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times

Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker

Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times

Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press

Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker

Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters

Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press

Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”

LETTERS AND DRAMA

Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson

History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)

Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)

General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

and

"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)

Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019

Special Citation
Ida B. Wells

 

Updated: March 14, 2023, 4:26 PM