{"id":631793,"date":"2026-09-21T21:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631793\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:40:10","slug":"california-braces-for-record-el-nino-storms-as-governor-declares-emergency-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631793\/","title":{"rendered":"California braces for record El Ni\u00f1o storms as governor declares emergency | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

California is bracing for a record breaking El Ni\u00f1o that is expected to bring severe winter storms and flooding across the state, with the state\u2019s governor declaring a state of emergency in anticipation of extreme weather in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

The global climate phenomenon known as a \u201csuper El Ni\u00f1o\u201d<\/a> is already breaking temperature records<\/a> and drawing predictions of an extremely wet winter<\/a> in places such as California, where El Ni\u00f1o typically brings more severe winter storms and flooding risks. Several coastal California cities have recently faced <\/a>high surf, flooding and coastal erosion linked to Hurricane Marie as well as El Ni\u00f1o. Experts have said the effects offered a glimpse at what the coming winter could look like.<\/p>\n

Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Monday to bring supplies to California communities ahead of extreme weather, and ready the national guard to assist with flood response and search and rescue efforts. It also directs state agencies to prepare roads and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The governor said in a statement<\/a> that the proclamation was an effort to \u201c[give] communities the support they need, [give] first responders the tools to do their jobs, and [give] families the confidence that their state is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are preparing for this El Ni\u00f1o early because every Californian deserves to be safe in their home, connected to their community] and protected when severe weather comes,\u201d Newsom said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"CouldCould \u2018Godzilla\u2019 El Ni\u00f1o bring the hottest year on record? \u2013 video explainer<\/p>\n

The global climate phenomenon occurs when parts of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean naturally warm, which affects weather patterns across the world, leading to drought in some areas and fueling severe storms in others, and causes global temperatures to surge. It amplifies the effects of the climate crisis, and recent research<\/a> found that global heating is supercharging the El Ni\u00f1o climatic patterns.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o broke the highest temperature ever recorded<\/a> for the phenomenon this week, months ahead of the anticipated peak, according to the latest data.<\/p>\n

This year there is a more than 90% change of a very strong El Ni\u00f1o event and a 75% chance of an event of historic strength, according to a statement from the governor\u2019s office. That could bring severe rain, flooding, landslides and coastal flooding that cuts off neighborhoods, damages communities and causes widespread power outages.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is already taking steps now to protect communities from a potentially historic El Ni\u00f1o because we know how serious these weather extremes driven by climate change can be,\u201d said Wade Crowfoot, California\u2019s natural resources secretary, in a statement.<\/p>\n

The governor also approved emergency declarations for several counties across the state that recently experienced significantly damaging severe weather events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is bracing for a record breaking El Ni\u00f1o that is expected to bring severe winter storms and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-631793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}