Gary Griggs, Distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, stands along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2023 near storm damage that collapsed part of the road. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
For three weeks after Christmas, California was pounded with a series of nine atmospheric river storms. The drenching rains replenished reservoirs that had been seriously depleted during three years of severe drought.
But they also caused flooding from the Central Valley to Santa Barbara, triggering mudslides, sinkholes and power outages, and left 22 people dead. Along the coast, big waves ripped a 40-foot