Latest Atmospheric River Moves Through Western U.S.

A strong weather system moves towards the Western U.S. on March 20, 2023, the latest in a series of atmospheric rivers to inundate California with heavy rains. (Satellite image courtesy of NOAA)

By Lara Cooper

March 21, 2023

At least a dozen atmospheric rivers have moved through California this winter, and the latest moved through the state on Tuesday, expected to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain to Southern California and flooding to areas that were fully saturated long ago.

Direct Relief has been supporting community groups and healthcare facilities in flood-impacted areas across the state, including Monterrey County, where a levee breach displaced thousands in the farming community bordering the Pajaro River Valley.

Direct Relief shipped 1,000 personal care kits to the area last week, which were distributed to community members displaced by flooding and a local levee break earlier this month. Across Monterrey County, where the Pajaro River Valley is located, thousands were forced to evacuate, including many farmworkers that live and work in the area. Two hundred people were rescued from the rising flood waters.

The organization also shipped masks, gloves, tents and air purifiers to the Universal Community Health Center in Los Angeles, which had a portion of its roof damaged from recent rains. More shipments are slated to depart this week.

A recently donated high-water rescue vehicle has already been in use for search and rescue efforts in Mammoth, where over 600 inches of snow have been recorded this season, burying homes and trapping residents.

An armored rescue vehicle, donated by Direct Relief, was deployed to Mammoth last week where the vehicle was used for search and rescue operations in the deep snow. (Photo courtesy of Ventura County Sheriff’s Department)

The high water rescue vehicle was deployed to Mammoth last Thursday for a mutual aid mission and transported a crew of two Sheriff’s Office Tactical Response Team members and a Ventura County Fire Department paramedic, supplementing a crew of eight other Ventura County Sheriff’s Department members that were already there. “Due to the amount of snow, there was difficulty in responding to calls for service, but also they began having roofs collapsing due to the weight of the snow,” said Shane Matthews, of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which maintains the Direct Relief-donated vehicle.

The vehicle allowed law enforcement to complete calls for service, as well as search and rescue and even transported one person to the hospital, and the vehicle was being prepped for storm response this week to the latest rains.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to requests for medical support this week.