"We all know that the January storms have had a major effect on physical property across the Bay Area. The total for home repairs could reach as much as $46 million in San Francisco alone. But what kind of effects has it made on the people in our COMMUNITY?"--RUBY Deetz, 6th grade
We all know that the January storms have had a major effect on physical property across the Bay Area. The total for home repairs could reach as much as $46 million in San Francisco alone, according to authorities. But what kind of effect has it made on the people in our community?
In Berkeley, a mudslide slammed into Marjorie Cruz’s home on Middlefield Road at around 6:30 a.m. Authorities announced mandatory evacuation orders to more than a half-dozen houses in the area. “It’s completely shocking – I don’t have words to describe what I’m looking at,” says Marjorie Cruz, “Who expects to wake up in the morning and see an entire hillside in their dining room?”
These storms were powered by atmospheric rivers, which are“ are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics.” The specific atmospheric river that caused the recent storms is called the Pineapple Express. If you want to know more about this topic, head over to Drax’s article.
In Berkeley, a mudslide slammed into Marjorie Cruz’s home on Middlefield Road at around 6:30 a.m. Authorities announced mandatory evacuation orders to more than a half-dozen houses in the area. “It’s completely shocking – I don’t have words to describe what I’m looking at,” says Marjorie Cruz, “Who expects to wake up in the morning and see an entire hillside in their dining room?”
These storms were powered by atmospheric rivers, which are“ are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics.” The specific atmospheric river that caused the recent storms is called the Pineapple Express. If you want to know more about this topic, head over to Drax’s article.
Downtown San Francisco saw a deluge on New Year’s Eve, when 5.46 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period. “That makes it the second-wettest single day in the city’s history going back to the Gold Rush years,” says Gerry Díaz, Chronicle Newsroom Meteorologist. The storms have caused at least 20 recorded deaths.
There have been more than 500 reported mudslides across California during the course of the storms. Total repairs could reach as much as $1 billion, according to authorities. Since Dec. 30, piles of dirt and rocks were blocking roads and causing power outages due to fallen trees all across the state.
Lit Arts 7th grader, Zanthe Jones-Gerachis (She/Her) Says that the storms had a big effect on her and her dog, “My dog gets taken to the dog park 2 times a day ‘cause he has so much energy so not being able to, I’m the one who has to deal with that because I’m the playmate.” Jones-Gerachis Is also an artist so not being able to go out to get inspiration was another obstacle caused by the storms, “I don’t do a lot of things outside but I do like to go outside and draw my front yard and walk my dog and that did definitely make me stay inside more.”
Lit Arts 6th grader, Ava Ford (She/Her) was given quite a shock when a power line had exploded near her house, “The storms didn’t physically hurt me but it did scare me because by my house a power line exploded and the sky turned green. I don’t know why, because of the gasses or oils or something, and the windows started shaking.”
Literary Arts Chair, Jordan Karnes (They/Them) ran into many problems during the course of the storms. Karnes said “I was fine in the beginning but towards the end it just wore on me so much, especially as a dog owner.” Karnes also came across issues with flooding, “On New Year’s Eve when it rained the most, my apartment started flooding because there was basically like 100 gallons of water building up underneath my floor and it started seeping in.”
Karnes says that when this happened, their landlord came to help them handle the situation. “My landlord, luckily, he lives next to me so he came down and we put up sandbags.We ended up pumping out 100 gallons of water out that day, and if he hadn't been there to be on it, then I probably would have had a lot of damage,” they said.
Lit Arts 7th grader, Zanthe Jones-Gerachis (She/Her) Says that the storms had a big effect on her and her dog, “My dog gets taken to the dog park 2 times a day ‘cause he has so much energy so not being able to, I’m the one who has to deal with that because I’m the playmate.” Jones-Gerachis Is also an artist so not being able to go out to get inspiration was another obstacle caused by the storms, “I don’t do a lot of things outside but I do like to go outside and draw my front yard and walk my dog and that did definitely make me stay inside more.”
Lit Arts 6th grader, Ava Ford (She/Her) was given quite a shock when a power line had exploded near her house, “The storms didn’t physically hurt me but it did scare me because by my house a power line exploded and the sky turned green. I don’t know why, because of the gasses or oils or something, and the windows started shaking.”
Literary Arts Chair, Jordan Karnes (They/Them) ran into many problems during the course of the storms. Karnes said “I was fine in the beginning but towards the end it just wore on me so much, especially as a dog owner.” Karnes also came across issues with flooding, “On New Year’s Eve when it rained the most, my apartment started flooding because there was basically like 100 gallons of water building up underneath my floor and it started seeping in.”
Karnes says that when this happened, their landlord came to help them handle the situation. “My landlord, luckily, he lives next to me so he came down and we put up sandbags.We ended up pumping out 100 gallons of water out that day, and if he hadn't been there to be on it, then I probably would have had a lot of damage,” they said.
The weather was also a challenge for Karnes when it came to getting to work, “I did have to drive some days, which is tough because OSA doesn't have a parking lot for its teachers so if you drive to work you have to pay for parking.” To them, this was a frustrating thing to deal with because it was $15-$20 a day for parking.
