Powerful storm brings heavy rain, flooding and mud flows to Northern California

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Caltrans maintenance supervisor Matt Martin walks by a landslide covering Highway 70 in the Dixie Fire zone on Sunday in Plumas County, Calif. Heavy rains blanketing Northern California created slide and flood hazards in land scorched during last summer’s wildfires.





Noah Berger/AP



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Noah Berger/AP





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Rocks and vegetation cover Highway 70 following a landslide in the Dixie Fire zone on Sunday.





Noah Berger/AP



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Noah Berger/AP





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A car drives on Highway 101, which is partially flooded in Corte Madera, Calif., on Sunday.





Ethan Swope/AP



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Ethan Swope/AP




A car drives on Highway 101, which is partially flooded in Corte Madera, Calif., on Sunday.


Ethan Swope/AP

Strong winds were also expected, with gusts of up to 60 mph at the windiest spots in Northern California. Elevations above 9,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada could get 18 inches of snow or more from Sunday until Monday morning.

Recent storms have helped contain some of the nation’s largest wildfires this year. But it remains to be seen if the wet weather will make a dent in the drought that’s plaguing California and the western United States. California’s climate is hotter and drier now and that means the rain and snow that does fall is likely to evaporate or absorb into the soil.

California’s 2021 water year, which ended Sept. 30, was the second driest on record and last year’s was the fifth driest on record. Some of the state’s most important reservoirs are at record low levels.