California Gov. Newsom asks Biden administration to declare federal emergency ahead of brutal storms

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he will ask the Biden administration to declare a federal emergency to support California’s ongoing storm response amid an unrelenting wave of brutal storms that left hundreds of thousands of Californians without power. 

Amid high winds and heavy rains, the worst of the storms is forecast to hit on Monday. During a winter storm update Sunday, Newsom said to expect the worst of the storm and "very intense weather" in the next 48 hours.

"Don't test fate," Newsom said during the Sunday update. "Just a foot of water and your car's floating, you know, half a foot of water and you're off your feet."

More than half of Sacramento's 530,000 residents were in the dark at the height of the storm Sunday, victimized by wind gusts of up to 60 mph that toppled trees and tangled power lines, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District said.

"Atmospheric river events" will continue to batter California through early this week with likely the most potent system arriving Monday, the National Weather Service said. Additional rain on saturated soils will lead to considerable flooding, mudslides, and burn scar debris flows, the weather service said.

Widespread mountain snow and high winds will add to weather issues across the state, the statement warned.

"This could be a deadly situation and the storm will likely be a billion-dollar disaster," tweeted AccuWeather meteorologist Ariella Scalese. "Several more inches of rain, mudslides/landslides. In addition, feet of snow above 6,500 feet and wind gusts exceeding 100 mph."

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Latest developments:

• More than 117,000 homes and businesses across California were without power Sunday night.

• Evacuation warnings were in place for about 13,000 residents of Sonoma County north of San Francisco, where the Russian River was expected to crash over its banks in the coming days.

• The state Department of Transportation warned motorists to stay off mountain roads after closing a stretch of U.S. 395 in Mono County due to heavy snow, ice and whiteout conditions along the Eastern Sierra.

• The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for a swath of Northern and Central California.

• The storms won’t be enough to officially end California’s ongoing drought but they have helped, Anderson said.

POWER OUTAGES DRAG ON: California struggles to keep lights on after storms leave thousands in dark

Evacuation warnings in place amid renewed flood concerns

About 13,000 residents in an area of Sonoma County – about 80 miles north of San Francisco – are under evacuation warnings as the Russian River is expected to overflow in the coming days.

The weather service's California-Nevada River Forecast Center warned that numerous river forecast locations are expected to reach flood stage over the next five days.

With the strongest storm expected Monday and Tuesday, the weather service issued flood advisories for a large swath of Northern and Central California. The already saturated interior Northern California faces renewed flood concerns due to over 5 inches of rain forecast, according to the weather service in Sacramento.

The Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services ordered residents of Wilton — about 20 miles southeast of downtown Sacramento  — to evacuate the area on Sunday night. Wilton is home to about 6,000 people.

"Flooding is imminent. Out of an abundance of caution, residents must leave now before roads become impassable," the office of emergency services said in its evacuation order.