Fremont's Winter Flooding

At the beginning of 2023, a powerful storm hit California, threatening to cause severe damage to the West Coast. January 4th and January 5th seemed to be the worst of the storm, with heavy, hurricane-like winds on the 4th and massive rainfall brought on by an “atmospheric river” on the 5th. Effects of this turbulent weather include flooding that killed at least fourteen people, severe property damage, and power outages. Although the storm is beginning to show signs of slowing down, the storm was at its strongest the first week of January and the beginning of the week of the 8th. Certain regions experienced 3 - 6 inches of rainfall, significantly damaging the soil. Regions near San Francisco also experienced flooding, sinkholes, and mudslides.

Additionally, California has been notified of a possible tornado threat. Despite the fact that tornadoes are extremely rare in coastal regions like California, this kind of abrupt natural disaster like this could be detrimental. The last time California Experienced a tornado threat was two years ago with a two percent risk percentage.

Due to the heavy rainfall, other natural disasters, like mudslides and sinkholes, have surfaced. This is because of the loosening of the already saturated soil — as the soil absorbs more water, it becomes heavier and proceeds to flow down inclines, causing mudslides. In other cases, excess rainfall seeps through the soil, leading to a large sinkhole being exposed after the thin, unstable layer of soil above the water collapses.